The Walking Dead-Home (Daryl Dixon)
by SavanahWhite
Summary: Penny's life is saved by the one and only Merle Dixon. After he gets handcuffed to the roof in Atlanta, she's meets his brother Daryl Dixon. Eventually she has to decide where her loyalties lie.
1. Guts

Penny is my main character from my novel "Infection". I've changed her age and made her older for the story. Infection is about a zombie apocalypse, so i thought it would be cool to see how she interacts with the characters of the Walking Dead. check back EVERY Sunday for a new episode!

Season 1: Episode 2- Guts

_Penny awoke, surprised she was still alive. She couldn't remember much but she knew very well that any sensible person would've and should've gunned her down. How long was she out? She had no idea._

_It could've been days or weeks. After losing everything, she was able to gain one friend. Even if that friend was a badass redneck who everyone disliked, he was still her friend; maybe even more than that._

_"Hey darlin', you're finally awake." Her friend walked into the tent giving her a humorous smirk._

_"What happened?" She questioned as she sat up from the small bed. Immediately feeling dizzy, she clutched her head and winced, not wanting to move any further._

_"You passed out and went into a coma, honey." The redneck sat down beside her, her not leaving his watchful gaze._

_"How long was I out?" Penny looked at her friend whom she now owed multiple deaths._

_"A few days." He replied. "Managed to make our way back to the group."_

_"What group?" Penny questioned._

_"The group me and my brother joined. A few of us are going out for a run and it's best you stay here. Let the women take care of ya." He stood to leave._

_"Merle, I'm going with you. I'm fine. I feel fine." Penny insisted. _

_Penny was tough; Merle liked that about her._

_"Darlin' I don't want you giving me any shit, you're stayin' here and wait for my brother to get back." Merle pointed his finger at her. Penny was not one to take orders._

_"I don't care what you say, I'm going." Penny got to her feet. She felt shaky and weak, but her toughness hid all of that so Merle Dixon wouldn't see._

_"Honey, how many times do I have to save your life to prove to you you're an idiot?"_

_"Don't flatter yourself. You saved my life one time." Penny snapped._

_"Wrong darlin'. I saved your ass twice. Dale, Shane and Andrea insisted you were a full on walker and should've been put down. It took a lot of yellin' to make them put their guns down. That's when you went under, five days ago." _

_Penny looked at him in awe. He went out of his way to save her, more than once. He was her knight in shining armor, her savior, her hero, and her protector._

_Merle looked at her as if she made him get into a pissy mood. 99% of the time, Penny deserved a good slap across her pretty face because she was such a bitch._

_Losing her family and friends and seeing the world go to hell by the wrath of God made her cold, tough, depressed, and angry. Just like Merle, she was a loose cannon. She admired that they were the same in that way._

_Unexpectedly, Penny pulled him into a hug then quickly exited the tent while running her hand through her short black hair. He didn't have to save her life when they first met. He didn't have to save her life five days ago, but he did._

_Merle felt like it was his job to protect Penny. She now had an attachment to Merle and was determined to stick to him in case trouble came around again. She could defiantly take care of herself, but you can never be too careful these days. After all, the only one that can kill Merle is Merle._

A gunshot pulled Penny away from her thoughts about that very morning. Looking to her right, she saw Merle firing his gun at walkers down on the road.

"Merle, what are you doing?" Penny insisted.

"Just takin' out some geeks darlin'." Merle replied, his eyes not leaving his aim. "They're crowding around the entire buildin'. We ain't ever gonna get out alive like this!"

"Hey Dixon, you crazy?" Morales shouted. Everyone ran up to the roof, questioning why Merle was wasting bullets. Merle just laughed casually.

"Hey, you outta be more polite to a man with a gun!" Merle joked. He jumped down from the ledge and stood next to Penny. "Only common sense."

"You're wasting bullets we ain't even got man!" T-Dog jumped down, now standing in front of Merle. "You're bringing them down here on our ass!"

Merle stepped closer to him.

"It's enough I got this taco bender on my ass all day, now I have to take orders from you?" Merle started getting up in T-Dogs space, taunting him.

"Merle, stop." Penny spoke behind him, remaining where she was.

"Stay out of this darlin'." Merle quickly turned to face her then turned back to T-Dog. "I don't think so bro. That'll be the day."

"That'll be the day?" T-Dog questioned. "You got something you wanna tell me?"

"T-Dog, stop. It's not worth it." Penny said, practically defending Merle. "Just back off."

T-Dog refused to back down.

"Merle, just relax." Penny tried to calm things down. She could feel the tension, and she didn't like where this was heading. "Okay? We've got enough trouble."

"You wanna know the day?" Merle asked T-Dog, ignoring Penny completely.

"Yeah." T-Dog insisted. If Merle had something to say, he wanted it said to his face.

"I'll tell you the day "Mr. Yo", is the day I take orders from a nigger."

Penny's mouth gasped open. Penny might be a disrespecting biotch, but she liked T-Dog, and she even thought Merle was out of line right then and there.

T-Dog, offended, lunged at Merle, punching him in the face. Merle used his gun to hit back, knocking him down. Penny could hear Andrea pleading for them to calm down while some stranger intervened.

Merle immediately punched the guy, knocking him down, while T-dog stood up just asking for more. Merle turned his attention back to him, kicking him in his gut, making him hit his head on the metal pipe.

Penny inched closer, and helped the stranger stand. Examining him, she saw he was wearing a police sheriff's uniform. She had never seen him before.

Her attention went back to Merle, who continued to beat T-Dog, and the fight got to the point when Merle pinned him down, pulled out his pistol, and pointed it at his face. Andrea begged Merle not to shoot, but he wasn't listening. Penny walked around and put her hand gently on Merle's shoulder, not saying a word. Merle raised his head, looking at the expressions on everyone's faces, trying to decide if he should listen to his conscience or not.

"Merle." Penny said softly yet firmly, keeping her hand on his shoulder.

Merle spat at T-Dog, deciding not to pull the trigger. He slowly stood up as Penny backed away from him and stood by Andrea.

"Alright. Gonna have ourselves a little pow-wow." Merle stood over T-Dog and looked at everyone. "Talk about who's in charge. I vote me." Merle spoke as Glenn, Andrea, and Penny dragged T-Dog away from Merle.

"Anybody else? Huh? Democracy time ya'll. Show of hands. Huh? All in favor?"

His gaze was more directed at Penny, wanting her to agree with him. As much as she cared for him and vise versa, she knew he was not a suitable leader. She wasn't going to let him use fear to get her to agree with him. She was more pissed at him than she was scared.

"Come on, let's see 'em." Merle insisted.

"Oh come on." Andrea said, not wanting to agree either.

"All in favor?" Merle asked once again. Everyone but T-Dog and Penny raised their hands. "That's good."

He was beginning to get on Penny's last nerve. She stood next to Andrea and pouted, giving him a look of disappointment, and the "you're really pissing me off" look.

"That means I'm the boss right?" Merle continued talking. "Now anybody else?" He looked directly at Penny, but she didn't budge. This angered him to an extent. "Anybody?"

"Yeah." The Sheriff held Merle's rifle and hit him across his head, knocking him to the rooftop floor.

The Sheriff handcuffed Merle's right hand to the metal pipe, restraining him.

"Who the hell are you man?" Merle grunted as the Sheriff lifted him up forcefully.

"Officer friendly." The Sheriff replied. "Look here Merle, things are different now. There are no, "niggers", anymore, no dumb inbred white trash fools either. Only dark meat, and white meat. There's us, and the dead. We survive this by pulling together, not apart."

"Screw you man." Merle replied.

"I can see you making a habit on missing the point." The Sheriff continued.

"Yeah? Well screw you twice." Merle said.

"You outta be more polite to a man with a gun." The Sheriff pointed his gun at Merle's head, using Merle's words against him. "Only common sense."

"You're a cop." Merle spoke, not liking the Sheriff's first impression.

"All I am anymore is a man looking for his wife and son. Anyone who gets in the way of that is gonna lose. I'll give you a moment to think about that."

The Sheriff searched Merle's pocket and pulled out a dose of cocaine. This shocked Penny, she had no idea he did drugs. Like she wasn't pissed at him enough, right?

"You got some on your nose there." The Sheriff spoke sarcastically.

"What are ya gonna do? Arrest me?' Merle laughed. "Hey! What are you doin' that's my stuff!" Merle yelled as the Sheriff threw Merle's drugs off the roof.

"If I get loose, you better pray!" Merle yelled. Everyone walked away and ignored him while he threw his tantrum. "You hear me you pig? Your hear me!"

"Yeah, your voice carries." The Sheriff said, barely listening.

Penny couldn't help but chuckle. Despite Merle, she liked this guy, the Sheriff.

The stranger leaned on the ledge as Penny walked up and stood next to him.

"Where you from?' Penny asked him nicely. This was odd, considering she wasn't very nice anymore.

"Up the roadways." The Sheriff responded. Penny chuckled slightly.

"Well officer friendly, from up the roadways, welcome to the big city." Penny turned and looked at him. They both turned to see a herd of the walking dead on the streets below.

"God it's like Times Square down there." She heard Andrea say.

"How's the signal?" Morales asked T-Dog who was leaning against the wall, across from Merle.

"Like Dixon's brain, weak." T-Dog said looking at Merle. Merle turned and looked at him. All Merle had to do was flip him off to get his point across.

"Keep trying." Morales replied.

"Why? There's nothing they can do. Not a damn thing." Andrea turned.

"We got some people outside the city." Penny said to the Sheriff. "We're on our own. It's up to us to find a way out."

"Good luck with that." Merle spoke up. "These streets ain't safe from what I hear." His eyes fell on the beautiful Andrea, whom Penny was jealous of. She was so pretty it made Penny feel insecure. "Ain't that right sugar-tits?" He smiled playfully.

Penny couldn't help but feel extremely jealous. She shouldn't be, her and Merle weren't together.

"Hey, honeybunch." Merle tried getting Andrea's attention. "What say you get me out of these cuffs, we go bump some uglies? Gonna die anyway."

"I'd rather." Andrea replied.

That response made Penny smile. Not only because she refused him, but she liked Andrea. She wanted to be friends with her.

"Rug muncher. I figured as much." Merle said, accepting his rejection.

"The streets aren't safe." Morales said turning the attention away from Merle. "Now there's an understatement."

"What about under the streets?" The Sheriff questioned. "The sewers?"

"Oh man." Morales said. "Hey Glenn, check the alley. You see any manhole covers?"

Glenn stood to check the alley.

"No, must be all out on the streets where the geeks are." Glenn replied after checking.

"Maybe not. Old building like this built in the 20's; big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers in case of flooding, down in the subbasements." Jackie spoke up.

"How do you know that?" Glenn asked.

"It's my job-was." She replied. "I worked in the city zoning office."

The group went down to check the sewers while T-Dog, Penny (and obviously Merle) stayed. Penny went and sat next to T-dog as he continued trying to get a signal on the radio.

"Anybody out there?" T-Dog spoke into the radio. "Hello? Anybody read? I'm hoping to hear somebody's voice cause I'm getting sick and tired of hearing mine."

"Yeah well that makes two of us." Merle commented. "Why don't you knock that crap off? You're giving me a headache boy."

Same as Penny, Merle needed a good slap across the face 99% of the time.

"Why don't you pull your head out your ass, maybe your headache will go away." T-Dog commented back.

Penny was getting sick and tired of hearing them fight. All Merle did was laugh.

"Try some positivity for a change, damn." T-Dog said, not wanting to hear Merle talk for another second.

"I'll tell you what, you get me out of these cuffs, and I'll be all "Sammy Sunshine" positive for you." Merle smiled. He turned his focus to Penny. "Hey sweetheart, see that hacksaw over there in that tool bag? Get it for me, hmm? Make it worth your while."

This was the last thing she wanted. She didn't want to say no, but she didn't want to say yes either. He knew she did everything he asked her to.

"What do you say? Get me out of these things." Merle pressured her. She wanted so desperately to say yes and un-cuff him, but she knew she couldn't.

"So you can beat my ass again?" T-Dog intervened, letting Penny breathe. That was his way of saying, _"don't worry, I got you." _"Or call me nigger some more?"

"Come on now, it wasn't personal." Merle replied. "It's just that your kind and my kind ain't meant to mix, that's all." It seemed like he was trying to get more on Penny's good side than T-Dog's. "It don't mean we can't work together, parley, as long as there's some kind of mutual gain involved." He looked at Penny again. "So-about that hacksaw."

"I guess you want me to get that rifle over there too so you can shoot that cop when he comes back up, huh?" Penny snapped at him. She knew him too well, and could predict his intentions.

"Darlin', come sit by me." Merle offered to Penny.

She stood and went to sit by her friend.

"You ain't never said no to me before darlin'. Why the sudden change of heart?" He smirked her.

"The last thing I need is to be yelled at by everyone for un-cuffing you and you starting your one-man riot again." She stated, looking away from him.

"Now, now honey, don't take it so hard, I was just tryin' to show them who's boss." He chuckled. "I'm all calm and fragile now."

"Yeah, you sure showed them who's boss." Penny said sarcastically, gesturing the handcuffs.

"You know I've always liked you right?" Merle said looking at her.

"Are you just saying that so I'll un-cuff you?" She asked bluntly.

"Oh no, I'm being 100% honest with ya." Merle replied. "Besides, I got my responsibility to protect ya. How am I supposed to do that when I'm handcuffed to a pipe?

Penny smiled. Before she could respond any feelings she had for him, the group came back up the stairs.

"That construction site, those trucks-they always keep keys on hand." The Sheriff said, handing Morales the binoculars.

"You'll never make it past the walkers." Morales warned him.

"You got me out of the tank." The Sheriff looked at Glenn.

"Yeah, but they were feeding. They were distracted." Glenn replied.

"Can we distract them again?" The Sheriff asked.

"Right. Listen to him. He's onto something." Merle spoke up, trying to get on Sheriff's good side. "A diversion, like on "Hogan's Heroes.""

"God. Give it a rest." Jackie snapped at him. Penny felt like she had every right to punch her in the face.

"They're drawn by sound, right?" The Sheriff questioned.

"Right, like dogs-they hear a sound, they come running." Glenn replied.

"What else?" The Sheriff asked.

"Aside from they hear you?" Penny asked. "They see you, smell you, and if they catch you, they eat you."

Penny hated the walkers with a firing passion.

"They can tell us by smell?" The Sheriff asked in disbelief.

"Can't you?" Glenn asked sarcastically.

"They smell dead, we don't. It's pretty distinct." Penny spoke up.

The Sheriff thought of an idea and told Penny to stay and keep an eye on Merle while everyone else went to put the plan into motion. Glenn and the Sheriff were going to cover themselves in zombie guts so they could get to the truck. After about fifteen minutes, everyone except Glenn and Sheriff came back up to the roof to get everything.

"Hey, what happening man?" Merle asked anxiously. He couldn't take being handcuffed there any longer, he wanted out.

"Hey T-Dog, try that C.B." Morales said as they ran.

"Hey, come one, talk to me ya'll." Merle said getting nervous.

Penny wanted answers just as much as he did.

"Base camp, this is T-Dog. Anybody hear me?" T-Dog spoke into the radio. "Can anybody out there hear me?"

"There." Morales pointed spotting Sheriff and Glenn on the street. Thunder began to rumble.

"That asshole is out on the street with the handcuff keys?" Merle asked, getting angry.

"Are you serious?" Penny got just as mad.

T-Dog gave the two a look then showed he had the key to un-cuff him. Merle looked at him with rage.

"T-Dog, what are you doing? Un-cuff him already!" Penny stood, getting angry.

"Not yet." T-Dog replied, not feeling intimidated by her.

After a few minutes rain started falling. This was not a good thing.

"Oh man." Morales said, feeling just as worried with everyone else. The thunder got louder. "It's just a cloud burst, We get them all the time. It'll pass real quick."

"How fast is real quick?" Penny spoke up, still standing next to Merle. "They don't have time, the smell will wash off."

The group watched as the two just managed to make it over the gate to the truck. The group had no time.

"They're leaving us." Andrea panicked.

"What? What?" Merle asked, confused.

"No, no, come back." Andrea begged.

"Those roll-up doors at the front of the store facing the street-meet us there and be ready." Glenn's voice said on the radio.

"Come on! Let's go, let's go!" Morales shouted. Everyone gathered their stuff in a hurry and began running for the staircase.

"Hey, you can't leave me here!" Merle shouted. "I'm not fooling man! Morales!"

"Morales!" Penny shouted, kneeling by the cuffs.

She wasn't leaving Merle's side; not on her life.

"Hey, man! Don't do this!" Merle pleaded as everyone left one by one.

"Hey, that's my gun, you can't leave me!" Merle continued.

T-Dog froze, not sure of what to do.

"T-Dog! You have the key! Please! Let him go, you can't leave him here, please!" Penny shouted, clutching the cuffs in her hands.

"Don't leave me here you guys!" Merle cried. Andrea called for Morales.

"We gotta go." Morales said to T-Dog leaving the scene.

"Morales! You can't leave me like this man!" Merle shouted.

"T-Dog!" Penny shouted, panicking, seeing T-Dog still standing there.

"Hey, T-Dog. No man. You can't leave me man!" Merle pleaded to T-Dog. "You can't leave me here, not like this. You can't man, it's not human!" Merle begged so hard, he could've cried.

Penny started crying, pulling on the cuffs anxiously.

"Come on, don't do this!" Merle sounded like he was tearing up.

"T-Dog! Will you quit standing there! Help, please!" Penny cried at the top of her lungs. She couldn't understand why he was taking so long to help.

T-Dog groaned and began running over to Merle and Penny, key in his hand; he knocked the tool box over in the process. As he ran over, he tripped and the key flew from his hand. The key bounced a few times, then fell down a drain.

"No!" Penny screeched, running for the drain. It went so far down, there was no way she could reach it.

"Son of a bitch! You did that on purpose!" Merle yelled.

"I didn't mean to!" T-Dog yelled back.

"You lie! You did it on purpose!"

"It was an accident!" T-Dog yelled.

"Don't leave me man!" Merle begged.

"T-Dog! Please don't!" Penny cried in desperation.

T-Dog acting quickly, grabbed his bag, ran over and threw Penny over his shoulder.

"No! T-Dog! We can't just leave him!" Penny cried, kicked, punched and screamed as T-Dog ran to the door.

"I'm sorry!" T-Dog yelled.

"Damn you all! Don't leave me!" Merle shouted. He kept repeating, _"don't leave me."_

T-Dog put down Penny who continued to cry.

"T-Dog, no! We can't leave him!" Penny begged.

T-Dog turned around and shut the door completely, and put a lock and chain on it while Penny could hear Merle yell, _"You're gonna rot in hell!" _repeatedly.

"Don't leave us!" T-Dog yelled running down the stairs while pulling a struggling Penny along down the stairs.

T-Dog and Penny ran and saw the glass shatter as more walkers flooded in.

"Hey! Wait for us!" T-Dog yelled as they sprinted down the hall.

"They're here! Let's go! They're in here!" Penny shouted. She could hear the walkers getting closer.

They lifted the garage door and the Sheriff helped load the stuff into the truck. Everyone jumped in and the Sheriff took off just as the geeks were about to grab one of them.

Morales pulled the back of the truck down as the Sheriff floored it. Once everyone knew they were safe, everyone began to relax. Penny didn't take her eyes off of T-Dog. She wanted to shoot him so badly. Nothing could describe the hurt, anger, and pain and guilt she felt.

"What happened?" Morales asked anyone who would answer.

"I dropped the damn key." T-Dog said after a moment of silence.

Penny gave him a look saying, 'I _will_ punch you in the face'. After another moment of silence, Andrea spoke up.

"Where's Glenn?"


	2. Tell it to the Frogs

Season 1- Episode 3: Tell It to the Frogs

The Sheriff drove down the highway, feeling guilty for leaving Merle behind. He actually regretted handcuffing him there in the first place.

"Best not to dwell on it." Morales told him as he sat in the passenger seat. "Merle got left behind."

Sheriff didn't say anything. He looked at Morales than continued looking at the road.

"Nobody's gonna be sad he didn't come back." Morales continued. "Except maybe Daryl."

Penny, who was listening in on the conversation, inched closer to hear more.

"Daryl?" The Sheriff questioned.

"His brother." Morales replied.

Penny had never met Daryl. When she met Merle, he was away from the group, including Daryl. When she went under, he could've been there, but she wouldn't have known.

Penny began hearing a car alarm approach. They could all hear Glenn "woo-hooing" as he drove the red sports car.

"At least somebody's having a good day." Morales commented.

Penny knew she defiantly was not.

Not too long after, the truck came to a stop, arriving back at the camp.

"Come meet everybody" Morales patted the Sheriff on his shoulder.

Andrea lifted the back door to the truck and hopped out, along with everyone else.

"Amy." Andrea spotted her young college sister.

"Andrea!" Amy cried as they ran towards each other. "You scared the shit out of me."

"How's ya'll get out of there anyway?" Shane asked, looking at Penny as she walked over.

"New guy. He got us out." Penny replied.

"New guy?" Shane questioned.

"Yeah, crazy vato just got into town." Morales told Shane. "Hey helicopter boy! Come say hello."

The Sheriff got out and closed the truck door.

"They guy's a cop like you." Morales told Shane.

When the Sheriff and Shane laid eyes on each other, they immediately knew who they were looking at. Carl and Lori turned their heads in awe to see the man the three thought were dead.

"Dad! Dad!" Carl yelled as he ran towards him. The Sheriff began to cry as he crashed into his son in a tight embrace.

Still holding Carl, he walked towards Lori, who stared in shock. She joined in the hug, trying to convince herself it wasn't a ghost, this was her husband, alive and well. He began to think there was some light at the end of the tunnel.

When night fell, everyone sat around the campfire as the Sheriff told his story. Penny missed some of the conversation since she was in the bathroom.

"I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane." The Sheriff looked at his best friend as Penny sat down next to Dale. "I can't begin to express it."

"There go those words falling short again." Dale spoke.

Penny stared into the campfire. She could still hear Merle's cries. _"Don't leave me!" _She wished she hadn't.

"Hey, Ed, you want to rethink that log?" Shane asked when Ed threw another log into the fire.

"It's cold, man." Ed replied.

"The cold don't change the rules, does it?" Shane warned. "Keep our fires low, just embers, so we can't be seen from a distance, right?"

"I said it's cold." Ed replied. "You should mind your own business for once."

Shane stood.

"Hey Ed." Shane spoke softly. "Are you sure you want to have this conversation, man?"

"Go on, pull the damn thing out. Go on!" Ed looked at his wife, Carol.

Penny despised her. She hated that Carol made no effort to stand up for herself and just did whatever he said. Ed was abusive and everyone knew it. Everyone hated him, especially Penny.

Saving Carol the trouble, Shane took it out himself and slammed his foot on it to put the fire out. After he finished, he knelt in front of Carol and her twelve-year-old daughter Sophia.

"Hey Carol, Sophia, how are y'all this evening? Shane asked softly.

"Fine, we're just fine." Carol replied quickly.

"Okay." Shane said in return.

"Sorry about the fire." Carol said it like it was her fault. Penny would gladly slap her across her face, but she felt that Ed did that enough already.

"No no no." Shane insisted. "No apology needed. Y'all have a good night, okay?"

Shane stood and sat back down on his spot.

"Have you given any thought to Daryl Dixon?" Dale spoke up.

Earlier, Penny angrily explained the situation to him, and he comforted her the best he could.

"He won't be happy to hear his brother got left behind." Dale continued.

"I'll tell him." T-Dog replied. "I dropped the key, it's on me."

"Yeah it is on you." Penny snapped at him. "But I should tell him. Merle was my friend and I did nothing to help him. And Daryl doesn't even know me."

"I cuffed him." The Sheriff spoke. "That means it's on me."

"Guys, it's not a competition." Glenn said sarcastically. "I don't mean to bring race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white person."

"I did what I did." T-Dog replied.

"Yeah, you did." Penny snapped.

"We could lie." Amy offered.

"Or tell the truth." Andrea corrected. "Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed. Your husband did what was necessary." She looked at Lori. "And if Merle got left behind, it's nobody's fault but Merle's."

"And _that's_ what we _tell _Daryl?" Penny snapped. "Necessary? That wasn't necessary and it wasn't his fault. It was _his_. I know because I was there." Penny pointed at T-Dog. "I don't see a rational discussion to be had from that, do you?"

"Word to the wise-" Dale said. "-We're gonna have our hands full when Daryl gets back from his hunt."

"I was scared and I ran." T-Dog spoke. "Penny was able to be saved. I threw her over my shoulder and ran. I'm not ashamed of it." He looked at Penny.

He didn't regret saving her, even though she was being so mean to him.

"We were all scared." Andrea replied. "We all ran. What's your point?"

"I stopped long enough to chain that door. Penny said we couldn't just leave him. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that-not that chain, not that padlock. My point-Dixon's alive. And he's still up there, handcuffed to that roof. That's on us." T-Dog finished talking then stood to leave. Penny followed him, feeling like some things were still being left unsaid.

"T-Dog." Penny called out as she caught up to him. He stopped walking and stood there. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize how bad you felt."

"I'm sorry for leavin' him there like that." He turned and looked at her.

"I'm going back for him." Penny stated. "Tomorrow, when Daryl gets back and we explain everything, I'm going back."

"You're not going alone." He insisted.

"If I have to, I will." She walked off to the Dixon tent where she was going to lie awake that night. She hardly slept anymore. She might not be welcome in this tent anymore when Daryl gets back.

The next morning, Penny exited the tent so she could look around. All the women were busy doing laundry, which was something Penny will refuse to do. She was the one to go out for supplies and keep watch. She did not want to be the cooking and cleaning lady. If Carol and the rest wanted that title, well then that's their problem.

Shane drove in with the jeep with the water supply.

"Water's here y'all." He greeted. "Just a reminder to boil before use."

Andrea and Glenn unloaded the water while Penny thought of what her plan was. She couldn't just prance like a pony back into the city, get Merle, and expect everything to be okay after that. He'll most likely take her and Daryl and split.

Maybe Penny didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay with Andrea and Glenn. They were becoming her best friends, especially Glenn. And the Sheriff was a very decent guy who she liked to have around.

"Mom!" She heard Carl yell.

Almost everyone ran over to see what was going on. Carl ran into Lori's arms and Sophia ran to Carol. Everyone else continued running.

The Sheriff, Shane, Glenn, Penny, Morales, Dale, Andrea, and Amy fell on the sight. A walker eating a deer's throat. The seer had multiple arrows in it's rear and one in it's side, showing that someone had been tracking it. The men just attacked the walker, stabbing it everywhere until Dale took his ax and took off it's head.

"It's the first one we've had up here." Dale panted. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well they're running out of food in the city, that's what." Penny said.

They suddenly heard branches snapping, indicating something else was lurking through the trees. Everyone got on their guard, ready to attack.

"Son of a bitch." The man said coming out of the trees, his eyes on the deer. "That's _my_ deer! Look at it. All gnawed by this, filthy, disease-bearing, motherless proxy bastard!" He insulted the walker as he kicked it repeatedly.

"Calm down son, that's not helping." Dale told the guy who he seemed to know.

"What do you know about it old man?" The guy got all up in Dale's space. "Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "On Golden Pond"?"

Penny looked at him as he turned back to the deer.

"I've been tracking this deer for miles." The man continued as he pulled his arrows out of the deer. "Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?"

"I wouldn't risk that." Penny spoke up, looking at him. The man looked at her quickly, then quickly returned his gaze as if he recognized her.

"That's a damn shame." He looked at her. "I got some squirrel-about a dozen or so. That'll have to do." He wasn't taking his eyes off Penny.

The decapitated head began moving again, clenching it's jaw.

"Oh God." Amy said, feeling like she was gonna hurl.

"Come on people, what the hell?" The stranger aimed his crossbow and shot an arrow at the head, piercing it's eye. The man pulled the arrow out.

"It's gotta be the brain." He told them. "Don't y'all know nothing?"

The man walked off back to the camp. Penny put two and two together; this was Daryl Dixon.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled for his brother. "Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up!"

"Daryl," Penny choked, suddenly having second thoughts on being the one to tell him. "Slow down, I need to talk to you."

"About what/" He asked calmly and confused. When his blue eyes looked into her newly grey ones, she felt like she couldn't bring herself to say it.

"About Merle." She nearly stuttered. If she felt this bad about Merle, she couldn't imagine how Daryl was going to react. "There was a uh-there was a problem in Atlanta."

She didn't like beating around the bush, but she couldn't help it.

"He dead?" He looked at her questioningly.

"I'm not sure." Penny felt like she going to break down crying, but she didn't.

"He either is or he ain't!" Daryl yelled in her face.

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it." The Sheriff stepped forward, taking the pressure off of Penny.

"Who are you?" Daryl turned to him.

"Rick Grimes." He answered.

_So his name is Rick_, Penny thought.

"Rick Grimes, you got something you wanna tell me?" Daryl demanded.

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof and hooked him to a piece of metal." Rick confessed. "He's still there."

T-Dog came in holding firewood. The sight of Daryl made him want to drop it all.

"Hold on. Let me process this." Daryl got angry. "You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof, and you left him there?!"

"Yeah." Rick replied.

Daryl lunged for Rick, but Shane knocked him out of the way. Daryl pulled out a knife, ready to fight.

"Watch the knife!" Penny yelled.

Daryl went for Rick, but he just managed to dodge him. Shane grabbed Daryl, putting him into a choke hold.

"You best let me go!" Daryl grunted.

"Nah, I think it's better if I don't." Shane said casually.

"Choke hold's illegal." Daryl responded.

"You can file a complaint." Shane said sarcastically. When he noticed Daryl still wasn't calming down, he spoke again. "Come on, man. We can keep this up all day."

Penny leaned in front of them, looking at Daryl.

"We wanna talk to you, calmly. You think we can manage that?" Penny asked him. Daryl only let out a few grunts. "Shane, let him go." She said as she stood up.

Shane threw Daryl to the ground. Rick decided to speak up.

"What I did was not on a whim." Rick told Daryl. "Your brother does not work and play well with others."

"It's not Rick's fault." T-Dog spoke up. "I had the key. I dropped it."

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl spoke sarcastically.

"He dropped it in a drain." Penny spat, giving T-Dog a dirty look.

"If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." Daryl snapped at Penny.

"Maybe this will." T-Dog tried meeting him halfway. "Look, I chained the door to the roof so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock."

"It's gotta count for something." Rick said to Daryl.

"Hell with all y'all." Daryl began to tear up. He looked at Penny. "Tell me where he is so I can go get him." He pleaded.

"I'll show you." She answered. "Because I'm going back."

"I'm going back too." Rick stated.

All Daryl did was walk off. Penny turned and looked at Rick.

"You're coming too?" She asked him in disbelief.

"Yeah." He replied, walking off to go change.

Penny walked up to Daryl as he too got ready to go get Merle.

"I tried to stay." She told him as his back faced her.

"What are you talkin' about?" He snapped at her.

"I didn't want to leave him there. T-Dog literally had to drag me out." Penny looked at the ground, fighting tears.

"You couldn't do nothing?" turned around and looked at her. "What did you just stand there and scream? Didn't try to cut him loose?"

"I'm sorry you think this is all my fault, but-"

"I'm not sayin' it's your fault, Jesus, don't flatter yourself."

"Well then why are you blaming me?"

"You're complainin' about wishing you done something', so why didn't you?'

"I don't know, I'm sorry."

"Don't you cry on me. Cut that shit out." Daryl pointed his finger at her as a tear fell from her face.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry! Okay? I'm sorry. There's nothing more I can say."

"I know who you are." He waved his finger at her accusingly. "You're my brother's little girlfriend. You were unconscious on my bed for a week. Merle demanded everyone stay away from you. I knew I recognized you earlier. I didn't think you'd be out and about."

"Could you throw me a bone here, man?" Shane talked to Rick as Rick walked away from him. "Could you just tell me why? Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?"

"Hey, choose your words more carefully." Daryl warned him.

"No I did. Douche bag's what I meant." Shane replied. "Merle Dixon; the guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst."

"He would if it were me." Penny interrupted.

"Shut your mouth and stay out of this." Shane said to Penny.

"What he would or wouldn't do doesn't interest me." Rick stated. "_I _can't let a man die of thirst-me. Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being."

"So you, Daryl, and Penny? That's your big plan?" Lori commented.

Rick and Penny turned their heads to Glenn.

"Oh, come on." Glenn whined.

"You know the way. You've been there before, in and out no problem. You said so yourself." Rick told him.

"It's not fair for us to ask, we know that." Penny told him. "But we'd feel a lot better with you along."

"That's just great-now you're gonna risk four people, huh?" Shane commented.

"Five." T-Dog spoke up.

"My day just gets better and better, don't it?" Daryl said sarcastically.

"You see anybody else stepping up?" T-Dog continued to Daryl. "To save your brother's cracker ass?"

"Why you?" Daryl asked him.

"You wouldn't even begin to understand." T-Dog answered. "You don't speak my language."

"That's five." Dale said.

"It's not just five. You're putting every single on of us at risk." Shane spoke to Rick firmly. "Just know that Rick. Come on, you saw that walker. It was here. It was _in_ camp. They're moving out of the cities. They come back, we need 'em here. We need 'em to _protect_ camp."

"It seems to me what you really need most here are more guns." Rick corrected.

"Right." Glenn said. "The guns."

"Wait, what guns?" Penny asked.

"Six shotguns, two high powered rifles, over a dozen handguns." Rick answered. "I cleaned out the cage back at the station before I left. I dropped the bag in Atlanta when I got swarmed. It's just sitting there on the street, waiting to be picked up."

"Ammo?" Penny questioned. Guns were nothing without ammo.

"700 rounds, assorted." Rick answered.

"You went through hell to find us." Lori interrupted. "You just got here and you're gonna turn around and leave?"

"Dad, I don't want you to go." Carl said to Rick.

"To hell with the guns. Shane is right. Merle Dixon? He's not worth one of your lives, even with guns thrown in." Lori insisted. "Tell me. Make me understand." She demanded.

"I owe a debt to a man I met, and his little boy." Rick explained to Lori. "Lori, if they hadn't taken me in, I'd have died. It's because of them I made it back to you at all. They said they'd follow me to Atlanta. They'll walk into the same trap I did if I don't warm him."

"What's stopping you?" Lori demanded.

"The walkie-talkie, the one in the bag I dropped. He's got the other one. Our plan was to connect when they got closer." Rick explained.

"These are our walkies?" Shane asked.

"Yeah." Rick responded.

"So use the C.B. What's wrong with that?" Andrea butted in.

"The C.B.'s fine." Shane said. "It's the walkies that suck to crap. Date back to the '70's, don't match any other bandwidth-not even the scanners in our cars."

"I need that bag." Rick insisted.

Lori ducked her head in defeat. Rick went to Dale for bolt cutters while Penny and Glenn got the truck ready. Penny and Daryl got into the back of the truck while Glenn honked the horn.

"Come on! Let's go!" Daryl shouted.

Rick and T-Dog got into the truck after Shane gave Rick some bullets. T-Dog, Daryl and Penny stayed in the back of the truck while Glenn drove and Rick was in the passenger seat. The drive was silent.

"Hey." Daryl said to Penny who sat across from him. "Sorry for yellin' at ya."

Penny gave him a small grin as a thank you. Daryl turned his gaze to T-Dog.

"He'd better be okay." Daryl warned "It's my only word on the matter."

"I told you the geeks can't get at him." T-Dog insisted. "The only thing that's getting through that door is us."

"For your sake I hope you're right." Penny said under her breath.

Daryl looked at her and she looked back. He gave her a small nod to show his appreciation.

The van came to a stop.

"We walk from here." Glenn said to everyone.

Everyone got out of the van and walked in silence. Glenn ran up to the gate and opened it.

"Merle first? Or guns?" Rick asked.

"Merle! We're not having this conversation!" Penny shouted at him.

"We are." Rick said to her sternly. "You know the geography, it's your call." He turned to Glenn.

"Merle's closest. The guns would mean doubling back." Glenn told Rick. "Merle first."

Everyone ran towards the department store. Merle was on the roof.

_He's okay, _Penny thought. _He's gotta be._

They walked into the building as quietly as they could. Rick started looking around and spotted a walker. He gestured it to Daryl, silently asking him to shoot it. Daryl walked up to it, crossbow ready.

"Damn." He said, looking at the female walker. "You are one ugly skank."

Daryl shot it in the head then pulled out the arrow.

The five rushed to the stairs, running up as fast as their legs could carry them. They reached the door and T-Dog walked over with the bolt cutters, breaking the lock. Daryl kicked the door open and ran inside, Penny right behind him.

"Merle!" Penny yelled.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled.

Daryl and Penny looked at the ground next to the pipe. A saw-blade was there with blood on the blade. Merle wasn't there. Just his hand in it's own pool of blood lying next to the hanging handcuffs that was dripping with Merle's blood.

"No! No!" Daryl cried repeatedly. He turned and looked at Penny. Penny's mouth hung open in shock with tears streaming down her face.

Daryl continued to cry out the same word while Penny continued to stare at the scene.

It was true. The only one that could kill Merle, was Merle.


	3. Vatos Part 1

Season 1-Epsiode 4: Vatos

Part 1:

Just yesterday, Penny lost her niece Maggie. A herd had been chasing her for hours now. Out of nowhere, a biter came out of the trees, attacking her. She tried fighting it off of her, The herd was getting closer. Using her left forearm, she held the walker by the neck while she used her right hand to reach for her knife. She reached as far as she could, letting out a few groans.

Her finger tips just managed to touch the handle. Pulling it, she gripped the handle and stabbed the walker through it's forehead. Blood escaped, dripping down on Penny's face. Some went into her mouth, but she spit it out; or at least she thought she did. She pushed the walker off and looked ahead. The herd was a lot closer now. She quickly got up, slightly tripping over her own feet, and ran.

Turning around halfway, she shot her gun at them as she ran. She suddenly crashed into something hard and warm. Automatically thinking it was another walker, she screamed and raised her gun.

"Whoa whoa now, hold on there darlin'!" A man said putting his hand on the gun, lowering. "I ain't one of your biters."

Penny panted, catching her breath as she stared at the stranger.

"A herd is coming! You need to get out of here!" Penny insisted.

"All tight honey bunch. There ain't nothing ol' Merle can't handle."

Merle raised his gun and began shooting at the mob of walkers one by one.

"Are you insane? We need to get out of here!" Penny yelled.

Why did she care about him? She doesn't even know him. She could just run away, that's what she had always done. She guessed she just didn't want anymore blood on her hands.

"I swear to God, I'll leave you here if you keep shooting that gun!" Penny yelled.

"Calm yourself darlin' I wasn't planning on stickin around. If you're gonna run, you better go now." He smirked at her.

Penny froze, suddenly unable to move. Was he serious?

"You better run squirrel." He told her as he continued shooting at the walkers.

Penny immediately took off running as she saw the herd getting closer.

"Yo Darylina!" She heard Merle's voice yell in the distance. "Get your shot gun and help me out over here! We don't want these things getting back to camp!"

Penny stopped listening and continued sprinting through the woods. She suddenly became dizzy and collapsed on the moss ground, clutching her head. She didn't feel good. She threw up everything she ate from that morning onto the many leaves on the ground.

Three walkers came out of the trees, catching her scent. They surrounded her, making her anxiety rise. She gripped her gun and shot one walker in the head then the one behind her. With one left, she shot again, but all she heard was a click. She was out of bullets.

The walker paced forward, wanting her flesh between his teeth. She pushed herself backwards and felt for her knife. She gripped it, raising it over her ear. Getting too close, she kicked the walker away as she tried standing up. Feeling strangely weak, she fell backwards onto her back. The walker growled, getting closer.

She suddenly heard another gun shot. The walker fell on top of her, and she tried pushing it off. Realizing she couldn't, she gave up. The walker was pushed off of her, and the figure immediately began slightly lifting her shirt. She slapped the hand off, and all the dude did was laugh.

"Get off me." She grunted.

"Calm down darlin' I'm just checking for bites and scratches." Merle explained. "You alright?"

"Why do you care?" Penny snapped, still lying on her back.

"Hey, I didn't have to save your ass. Least you could do is show some gratitude." Merle stopped checking and helped her stand.

"Daryl! Head back to camp. Tell 'em we have a guest!" Merle shouted.

Penny heard an "Okay" in the distance and crunching leaves.

"You got any people?" Merle asked her seriously.

"No. It's just me now." Penny choked. She had just lost her twelve year old niece. Merle noticed the depressed look on her face and decided not to ask anymore questions.

"What's your name honey bunch?" He asked his last question.

"Penny. Yours?" She replied.

"Merle Dixon." He answered. "It's getting late. We'll stay out here tonight, then we'll head back to camp in the morning'."

"Okay."

The saw, the hand, the blood. Merle was gone. Daryl became so enraged, he pointed his crossbow at T-Dog ready to shoot. Rick pointed his gun quickly at Daryl's head.

"I won't hesitate." Rick warned. "I don't care if every walker in the city hears it."

Daryl began tearing up. Eventually he lowered his crossbow in defeat. Daryl looked at T-Dog as if he was apologizing. He turned to Penny.

"You got a do-rag or something?" Daryl asked her extremely calm.

Penny reached into the pocket on her black shorts and pulled out a rag and handed it to him. Daryl took it then walked towards the hand.

"I guess the blade was too dull for the handcuffs." Daryl stated as he carefully picked up Merle's hand. "Ain't that a bitch."

Daryl wrapped the hand then walked over to Glenn. He gestured for him to turn around and put the hand into Glenn's backpack. Glenn didn't look too happy about it.

"He must've used a tourniquet-maybe his belt." Daryl continued. "Be much more blood if he didn't."

Daryl followed Merle's blood trail as T-Dog got Dale's tools together. Everyone else followed Daryl who saw the trail lead to another door.

"Merle? You in here?" Daryl yelled down the staircase.

Once they were down the stairs, Daryl took out another walker. Turning the corner, the group spotted two dead walkers next to Merle's now faint blood trail.

"Had enough in him to take out these two sumbitches, one handed." Daryl said. "Toughest asshole I ever met, my brother. Feed him a hammer, he'd crap out nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick commented.

Merle's blood led all the way into a kitchen.

"Merle!" Daryl yelled.

"We're not alone in here you know." Penny warned him. He could be attracting walkers with all his yelling. "Remember?"

"Screw that." Daryl replied. "He could be bleeding out."

The flame on the stove was on, and Merle's blood was all over. Penny looked and spotted his belt. All she did was worry more.

"What's that burned stuff?" Glenn asked quietly.

"Skin." Rick answered. "He cauterized the stump."

"Told you he was tough." Daryl commented.

"Nobody can kill Merle but Merle." Penny spoke up.

"Don't take that on faith. He's lost a lot of blood." Rick commented back.

"Yeah?" Daryl looked out the window. "Didn't stop him from busting out of this death trap."

"Everyone walked to the busted window.

"He left the building?" Penny panicked. "Why the hell would he do that?"

"Why wouldn't he?" Daryl replied. "He's out there alone as far as he knows. Doing what he's gotta do. Surviving."

"You call that surviving?" T-Dog commented. "Just wandering out on the streets, maybe passing out? What are his odds out there?"

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to die by you, prick." Penny spat at him. Daryl turned and looked at her, surprised she cared so much. Daryl walked up to Rick.

"You couldn't kill him. Ain't so worried about some dead bastard." Daryl looked him in the eye.

"What about 1,000 dumb dead bastards?" Rick replied. "Different story?"

"Why don't you take a tally?" Daryl taunted.

"Do what you want." Penny interrupted. "I'm going to get him."

"Penny, wait." Rick put his hand on her chest, keeping her back.

"Get off me!" She yelled, shaking him off. "You can't stop me!"

"I don't blame you." Rick replied. "He's a friend, I get that. He can't get far with that injury. We can help you and Daryl check a few blocks around, but only if we keep a level head."

Penny wasn't sure what a level head was anymore. That was something she lost a long time ago.

"I can do that." Penny said calmly.

"Only if we get those guns first." T-Dog interrupted. "I'm not strolling the streets of Atlanta with just my good intentions, okay?"

Penny began to decide if she should finally forgive T-Dog.

Glenn came up with a plan to get the bag of guns.

"You're not doing this alone." Rick told Glenn.

"Even I think it's a bad idea and I don't even like you that much." Daryl commented.

"It's a good idea, okay, if you just hear me out." Glenn insisted.

"Okay, then, what's the plan?" Penny calmly asked him, trying to be on his side.

"If we go out there in a group, we're slow, drawing attention." Glenn explained. "If I'm alone, I can move fast. Look."

Glenn made a diagram of the road nearby with a sharpie. He put a clip down.

"That's the tank, five blocks from where we are now." Glenn explained. Next to the clip, he put down a crumbled sticky-note. "That's the bag of guns. Here's the alley I dragged you into when we first met."

Glenn looked at Rick, pointing next to the clip.

"That's where Daryl, Penny and I will go."

"Why us?" Daryl asked.

"Your crossbow is quieter than his gun." Glenn answered Daryl. "Plus I think Penny kicks some serious ass, so she'd be good back up for you while I'm out getting the guns."

Both Daryl and Penny gave Glenn a smile of gratitude.

"While Daryl and Penny wait here in the alley, I run up the street, and grab the bag." Glenn finished.

"You got us elsewhere?" Rick asked.

"You and T-Dog, right." Glenn answered. "You'll be in this alley here."

"Two blocks away? Why?" Rick questioned.

"I may not be able to come back the same way." Glenn answered. "Walkers might cut me off. If that happens, I won't run back to Daryl and Penny. I'll go forward instead. All the way around to that alley where you guys are. Whichever direction I go, I got two of you in both places to cover me. Afterwards, we'll all meet back here."

"Hey kid, what'd you do before all this?" Daryl asked Glenn, impressed.

"Delivered pizzas. Why?" Glenn answered.

Penny let out a soft chuckle.

Glenn, Daryl, and Penny climbed down the ladder into the alley. The three hid behind a dumpster, getting ready to put Glenn's plan into motion.

"You got some balls for a chinaman." Daryl commented as he loaded his crossbow.

"I'm Korean." Glenn replied.

"Whatever." Daryl said.

Penny starting laughing, making Daryl give her a death glare.

"What are you laughin' at smoke eyes?" He commented as Glenn ran off.

"Nothing." She giggled.

"Shut up." He snapped at her.

She let out one more chuckle than hid next to Daryl, crouching behind the dumpster.

Hearing footsteps, Daryl readied his crossbow then came out of the hiding spot. Penny came out and saw it was just a teenage boy. Daryl didn't lower his crossbow.

"Whoa, don't shoot me! What do you want?" The kid cried in a panic.

Penny ran to the gat so the kid couldn't run out.

"I'm looking for my brother. He's hurt real bad. You seen him?" Daryl replied with an attitude.

"Ayudame!" The kid yelled.

"Shut up!" Penny shouted, pointing her gun at him. "You're gonna bring geeks down on us!"

"Answer me." Daryl warned. "Answer me!" He repeated.

"Ayudame!" The kid shouted again. "Ayudame!"

Daryl hit him with his crossbow, knocking him to the concrete.

"Shut up." Daryl covered the kid's mouth.

"Daryl watch out!" Penny screeched as two guys ran out after him.

One guy kicked Daryl, knocking him down.

"Daryl!" Penny screamed, aiming her gun.

The two guys ran over and one began hitting him with a bat, while the other kicked him. Glenn came back, shocked at what he saw.

"Glenn!" She shouted. "I can't get a good shot!"

"That's it! That's the bag vato!" One of them yelled when they spotted Glenn with the bag of guns.

Next thing they knew, the two guys began running after them.

"Take it! Take it!" The guy yelled to the other.

"Glenn!" Penny screamed.

The big guy beat down Glenn while the other hit his back with a bat.

"Get off him!" Penny high kicked the big guy in the head, getting him away from poor innocent Glenn.

The guy backed her up, slamming her against the wall. She punched him in the face, and kicked his gut. When he spotted the guns, she jumped on him, keeping him away from the bag. He slammed her against the wall again. He pulled her off and punched her down. Daryl saw this and shot his crossbow at the guy, the arrow landing in his butt. He reloaded his crossbow as the guys held Glenn and Penny in a chokehold.

"Get off me! Get off me!" Glenn pleaded as he tried fighting them off.

Penny fought as hard as she could, but couldn't get him off.

"Daryl!" Penny screeched, begging for his help. "Daryl! Daryl!"

A car pulled up and the guys began pulling them towards the car. The guys forced them in as Penny continued to scream while Daryl just managed to stand up.

"Daryl!" Penny shouted as the guy holding her covered her mouth.

Daryl ran up to the gate as the car drove off with Glenn and Penny.

"Come back here you sumbitches!" Daryl yelled in absolute rage.

Daryl had to close the gate since more walkers were showing up from all the yelling. Rick and T-Dog showed up, knowing something was wrong. Daryl, in rage, lunged at the teenage boy, shoving him, ready to beat him worse than the guy who hit Penny.

"Whoa whoa whoa, stop it!" Rick held Daryl back, not knowing what was going on.

"I'm gonna kick your nuts up in your throat!" Daryl threatened the kid.

"Let me go!" The kid yelled at T-Dog.

"Chill out." T-Dog told him.

"They took Glenn and Penny. That little bastard and his little bastard homie friends!" Daryl yelled in anger. "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"Guys! Guys!" T-Dog yelled, pointing at the walkers. "We're cut off!"

"Get to the lab! Go!" Rick ordered.

T-Dog grabbed the kid's arm and took him away. Rick grabbed the guns.

"Come on. Damn, let's go!" Daryl insisted.

Rick grabbed his Sheriff hat then ran off with Daryl back to the building.

"There was a man you were with. We need to know where they went." Rick told the kid.

"I ain't telling you nothing." The boy answered.

"Jesus man, what the hell happened back there?" T-Dog asked confused.

"I told you, this little bastard and his douchebag friends came out of nowhere and jumped me." Daryl said as he paced the floor in rage.

"You're the one who jumped me, puto, screaming about trying to find his brother like it's my damn fault." The boy commented.

"They took Glenn. Beat the crap out of Penny and took her. Could've taken Merle too." Daryl said still pacing.

"Merle?" The boy commented. "What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle."

Daryl lost it and went to beat the crap out of him.

"Daryl, Daryl. Damn it Daryl, back off." Rick demanded as he held Daryl back.

"You should be worrying about your girlfriend, puto. She's pretty." The boy commented.

Daryl walked over to Glenn's backpack and pulled out Merle's hand.

"Wanna see what happened to the last guy that pissed me off?" Daryl bluffed.

Daryl dropped the hand on the kid's lap. The boy screamed and jumped from his chair.

"Start with the feet this time!" Daryl bluffed as he grabbed the kid.

Rick grabbed Daryl and pulled him off.

"The men you were with took our friends." Rick explained. "All we wanna do is talk to them. See if we can work something out."

The kid spilled and led them to his and his buddies' hideout.

"You're sure you're up for this?" Rick asked T-Dog.

"Yeah." He assured.

"Okay."

T-Dog walked off to the top of a building while Daryl and Rick prepared.

"One wrong move, you get an arrow in the ass. Just so you know." Daryl warned the kid.

"G's gonna take that arrow out of my ass, and shove it up yours. Just so _you _know." The kid warned back.

"G?" Rick questioned.

"Guillermo." The kid answered. "He's the man here."

"Okay then." Rick said cocking his gun. "Let's go see Guillermo."

The three walked up to the building, not knowing what to expect. The doors opened and on man came out while many others stayed in the shadows. Rick could only assume this was Guillermo.

"You okay little man?" Guillermo asked the kid.

"They're gonna cut off my feet, carnal." The kid replied.

"Cops do that?" Guillermo asked, looking at Rick.

"Not him. This redneck puto here." The kid gestured to Daryl. "He cut off some dude's hand, man. He showed it to me."

"Shut up." Daryl snapped.

"Hey, that's that vato right here, homes. He shot me in the ass with an arrow man. What's up homes, huh?" The man who beat and took Penny stepped forward, aiming his gun at Daryl.

"Chill, ese, chill. Chill." Guillermo lowered the guy's gun. "This true? He wants Miguelito's feet? That's pretty sick man."

"We were hoping more for a calm discussion." Rick stated.

"That hillbilly jumps Felipe's little cousin, beats on him, threatens to cut off his feet, Felipe gets an arrow in the ass, and you want a calm discussion? You fascinate me." Guillermo said to Rick.

"Your men attacked mine first. This one beats on a young girl and kidnaps her and her friend? Heat of the moment. Mistakes were made, on both sides." Rick explained.

"Who's that dude to you anyway? You don't look related." Guillermo looked at Daryl and Rick.

"He's one of our group, more or less. He and his brother are good friends with the girl you took." Rick replied.

Daryl never thought of him and Penny as close friends. He knew Merle gave his all to protect her, and felt like he should honor that by doing the same.

"You got my brother in there?" Daryl asked, thinking of Merle.

"Sorry, we're fresh out of white boys." Guillermo replied. "But I've got an Asian and a white girl. You interested?"

"I have one of yours. You have _two _of mine." Rick stated.

"Don't sound even to me." Guillermo said to Rick.

"G." The boy said shocked. "Come on, man."

"My people got attacked." Guillermo got an attitude. "Where's the compensation for their pain and suffering? More to the point, where's my bag of guns?"

"Guns?" Rick questioned.

"The bag Miguel saw in the street. The bag Felipe and Jorge were going back to get. That bag of guns."

"You're mistaken." Rick told Guillermo.

"I don't think so."

"About it being yours." Rick corrected. "It's my bag of guns."

"The bag was in the street. Anybody could come around and say it was theirs. I'm supposed to take your word? What's to stop my people from unloading on you right here and now, and I take what's mine?"

"You could do that." Rick said. "Or not."

Rick turned his head to gesture T-Dog on the roof of a side building, pointing a rifle at Guillermo. Guillermo only smirked and called out.

"Oye!" he called for his boys.

Everyone looked up to see four bodies. Two of G's men pushing along the other two to the edge of the roof. Those two had sacks on their heads and their wrists were duct taped behind their backs. Their sacks were pulled off to reveal Glenn and Penny with duct tape on their mouths. Penny tried screaming for Daryl and Rick, but it was muffled by the tape.

"I see two options." Guillermo looked at Rick. "You come back with Miguel and my bag of guns, everybody walks. Or you come back locked and loaded, we'll see which side spills more blood."

Guillermo and all of his men walked back inside and shut the doors. The two men on the roof pulled Glenn and Penny along, leaving sight.

What were they to do?


	4. Vatos Part 2

Season 1-Epsiode 4: Vatos

Part 2:

"Them guns are worth more than gold." Daryl paced the floor. "Gold won't protect your family or put food on the table. You willing to give that up for those kids?"

"If I knew we'd get Glenn and Penny back, I might agree." T-Dog said. "But you think that vato across the way is just gonna hand them over?"

"You calling G a liar?" Miguel butted in.

"Are you a part of this?" Daryl yelled in Miguel's face. "You want to hold onto your teeth?'

Daryl smacked his head.

"Question is, do you trust that man's word?" T-Dog asked Rick.

"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it?" Daryl demanded. "Could be more than guns. Could be your life. Those two worth that to you?"

Daryl debated with himself whether or not he should get Penny back, with or without them. He had a responsibility to his brother. Merle protected her with his life. What would that make Daryl if he didn't do the same?

"What life I have, I owe to Glenn." Rick answered. "I was nobody to Glenn, just some idiot stuck in a tank. He could've walked away, but he didn't. Neither will I. And Penny? She might be frisky at times, but she's a good person. I can't just leave her like that, it wouldn't be right."

"So you're gonna hand the guns over?" Daryl asked.

"I didn't say that." Rick replied. "There's nothing keeping you two here. You should get out. Head back to camp."

"And tell your family what?" T-Dog asked.

T-Dog gave him a look as if saying, "I'm not leaving." Daryl gave him the same look. He had a reason for being there, but he also didn't want to just abandon Rick like this. Daryl gave an assuring nod, and the three men prepared their guns.

"Come, this is nuts." Miguel said standing up. Daryl pointed at him to sit back down. "Just do what G says."

They defiantly were not going to.

They had gagged Miguel and headed back to Guillermo, with guns ready. The doors opened and Daryl pushed Miguel inside. The three walked in to see a huge possy.

"I see my guns. But they're not all in the bag." Guillermo said not looking happy.

"That's because they're not yours. I thought I mentioned that." Rick replied.

"Let's just shoot these fools right now, ese." Felipe snapped.

Daryl hated him for what he did to Penny. He saw that bastard beat her face in. He deserves multiple arrows in the ass.

"All right? Unload on their asses, ese." Felipe continued. Daryl pointed his rifle right at the bastard.

"I don't think you appreciate the gravity of the situation." Guillermo looked at Rick angrily.

"No, I'm pretty clear." Rick responded. Rick got out his knife and untied Miguel.

"You have your man." Rick shoved Miguel to them. "I want mine."

Guillermo looked really angry.

"I'm gonna chop up your boy. I'm gonna feed him to my dogs." Guillermo threatened. "They're the evilest, nastiest man-eating bitches you ever saw. I picked them up from Satan at a yard sale. That little girl, she'll be some good use for us. Not many women around anymore."

Daryl wanted to take his head off. He didn't understand why he got so angry.

"I told you how it has to be. Are you woefully deaf?" Guillermo got angry.

"No, my hearing's fine. You said come locked and loaded." Rick responded. Everyone cocked their guns. "Okay then, we're here."

"Felipe! Felipe!" They all heard an elderly woman call Felipe.

"Abuela, go back with the others - now." Felipe told his grandmother as she walked into the room.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl demanded.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo, okay?' Guillermo told the Abuela. "This is not the place for you right now."

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing." The Abuela told him. "He needs his asthma stuff. Carlito can't find it. He needs his medicine."

"Felipe, go take care of it, okay?" Guillermo said impatiently. "And take your grandmother with you."

"Who are those men?" Abuela asked Felipe. She walked up to Rick.

"Don't you take him. Felipe's a good boy. He have his trouble but he pull himself together. We need him here."

"Ma'am, I'm not here to arrest your grandson." Rick told her, feeling confused.

"Then what do you want him for?"

"He's-helping us find two missing persons." Rick told her. "A fella named Glenn, and a girl Penny."

"The Asian boy? And the pretty girl?" Abuela asked. "They're with Mr. Gilbert. Girl has ice on her eye. Told me she fell, horrible accident. Come, come, I show you. She's pretty."

The Abuela took Rick's hand and led to the back with Daryl and T-Dog following.

"Let 'em pass." Guillermo told everyone.

The Abuela led them to a back building which looked like a nursing home.

"Abuela, por favor, take me to him." Felipe asked her.

They walked into a gym-looking room that held the most people. Glenn was there, looking perfectly fine, watching Mr. Gilbert. Felipe gave Mr. Gilbert his inhaler. Daryl looked and saw Penny sitting nearby with ice on her face.

"What the hell is this?" Rick asked, feeling even more confused.

"An asthma attack." Glenn told him. "Couldn't get his breath all of a sudden."

"I thought you were being eaten by dogs, man." T-Dog said looking pissed.

Glenn and Penny turned their head sarcastically to see three chiwawas.

"Could I have a word with you?" Rick looked at Guillermo, not happy.

Daryl walked over to Penny.

"How's it look?" He asked her.

"It hurts a little." She said as she took the ice off.

Her left eye was slightly swollen and was black and blue. Her left cheek bone had a big green bruise on it.

"Son of a bitch." He said as he examined her face. "Imma put another arrow in his ass."

"Daryl just let it go. I already told his grandmother I fell." She told him.

"Why would you do that? You're sitting here with a black eye and he's standing there getting away with it?" Daryl got upset.

"Why do you care? What am I to you?" She looked at him seriously.

"My brother went through hell to protect you. He's not here, so it's my job now. Least I can do for him."

"You don't need to protect me. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, if I didn't shoot him, he would've punched you even more. Don't you have any respect for yourself?"

She didn't like it when he said that. That was like comparing her to Carol.

"I have respect for myself." She snapped. "When she talked to me I felt bad. I didn't want her relationship ruined with him, so when she asked me what happened, I lied. Plain and simple. I'm _nothing_ to you. I'm not Merle's dog you need to watch while he's gone. Now every time I get hurt it's gonna be on your hands now? How am I supposed to live with that?"

"Listen. I was out there worried sick about you. I was ready to kill every single one of 'em. I just might think of you as a friend. But if you don't care about that, then fine." Daryl turned to walk away. He was done caring about people.

"Daryl." Penny called after him. He stopped and turned around.

She decided not to push him away for right now. She stood, walked over, and gave him a needed hug. Daryl wasn't used to such contact, and flinched, not sure of what to do. He hesitantly patted his hand on her back awkwardly. She finally let go, allowing him to walk.

"I didn't know you cared." Penny joked as she followed him.

"Shut up." He snapped.

Penny chuckled, knowing he felt embarrassed, and his anger was just a wall. So she decided to just leave it at that.

"Admit it, you only came back to Atlanta for the hat." Penny joked as the five walked back to the truck.

"Don't tell anybody." Rick warned her. He was talking about the situation from earlier.

"You've given away half our guns and ammo." Daryl told him.

"Not nearly half." Rick defended.

"For what? Bunch of old farts who are gonna die off momentarily now?" Daryl responded. "Seriously, how long you think they got?"

"How long do any of us?" Penny pointed out.

Everyone stopped abruptly in shock. The truck was gone.

"Oh my God." Glenn said shocked.

"Where the hell's our van?" Daryl questioned.

"We left it right there who would take it?" Penny questioned.

"Merle." Rick accused.

"He's gonna be taking some vengeance back to camp." Daryl warned.

"We're walking." Rick told everyone.

Everyone began jogging back. Penny got the feeling that something was wrong.

Night fell, and the five finally returned to camp. They heard multiple screams. Penny's feeling was right.

"Oh my God." Rick whispered in shock.

The group was being attacked by tons of walkers. They got their guns and began shooting every walker they saw as the remaining people of the group headed for the safety of the R.V.

Penny got her pistol and shot the last walker with all the hate she could bear.

"Baby! Carl! Carl!" Rick shouted for Carl.

"Dad!" Carl yelled running to Rick. Carl hugged him crying his eyes out, never feeling that scared before.

Penny observed everyone to see who had made it. Lori, Carl, Shane, Morales, his wife, son and daughter, Carol, Sophia, Jim, Jackie, Dale, and Andrea. Then there was the five that had just returned. Penny looked and saw a dying Amy. Andrea cried over her.

"I don't know what to do, Amy." Andrea mumbled under her tears.

Amy looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't. Amy let out a few gasping breaths then closed her eyes. Amy died.

Andrea cried, clutching Amy's shoulders and calling her name as if trying to wake her up.

"I remember my dream now." Jim said. "Why I dug the holes."


	5. Wildfire

Okay, one more episode until the Season 1 finale. The finale is going to be in 3 parts, which is exciting! After the finale, Season 2 will be out June 9th. Hope you are enjoying this!

Season 1- Episode 5: Wildfire

Penny felt like her paranoia is all that was left to keep her alive. She felt like nowhere was safe anymore, not even this camp. No matter what precautions you have, those damn biters always manage to find a way in and chew on the people you care about.

Penny didn't want to care about people anymore. She didn't want to see anyone else die. That's why she pushed people away. She cared for Merle, and look what happened. She had accepted the fact that there was no hope for him and he had died. She convinced herself that he past out on the street and walkers ate him. Even though it broke her heart to think that, it eased her worry.

She now had this group. She now had new friends. Glenn, Andrea, Rick, Dale, Carl, and Daryl. No matter what, her and Daryl seemed to have each others backs.

Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog continued working on sorting and burning the bodies.

"She still won't move?" Rick asked, looking at Andrea. All night, Andrea sat by Amy, not looking away from her.

Penny understood exactly how she felt.

"She won't even talk to us." Penny responded.

"She's been there all night, what do we do?" Lori asked as Penny stood up from her seat next to her.

"Can't just leave Amy like that." Shane said softly. "We need to deal with it. Same as the others."

"I'll tell her how it is." Rick said, walking over to Andrea.

Rick got to Andrea, trying to think of what to say.

"Andrea." Rick started. Andrea cocked her gun at him.

"I know how the safety works." Andrea said to him sharply.

"All right, okay. I'm sorry." Rick said softly, backing up.

"Ya'll can't be serious." Daryl said. "Let that girl hamstring us? The dead girl's a time bomb."

"What do you suggest we do?" Penny asked him. Penny understood how Andrea felt. She thought it would be best to leave her alone and let her put Amy down when she was ready.

"Take the shot." Daryl looked Penny in the eye. "Clean, in the brain from here. Hell, I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance."

"No. For God's sakes, let her be." Lori interrupted.

Penny walked off and Daryl soon followed her.

"Wake up Jimbo. We've got some work to do." Daryl said as he passed Jim.

Daryl and Penny walked up to a body that was a person from their group. Penny tried lifting it herself, but Daryl joined to help her.

"Thanks." Penny said to him as they started dragging the body to the fire.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" Glenn asked them. "This is for geeks. Our people go over there." Glenn pointed to another direction.

"What's the difference? They're all infected." Daryl commented.

"Our people go in that row over there." Glenn got upset. "We don't burn them! We bury them. Understand? Our people go in that row over there."

Daryl and Penny dragged the body to the other direction, following Glenn's insistence.

"You reap what you sow." Daryl told Glenn.

"Shut up." Penny snapped at Daryl as they put down the body.

Glenn was sensitive, and she felt like it wasn't fair to be mean to him. Daryl walked away from her, pissed off.

"Y'all left my brother for dead!" Daryl yelled. "You had this coming!"

Penny walked over to Glenn as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Sorry about him." Penny apologized.

"It's fine." Glenn replied. "I just want our people to have proper burials, that's all."

Penny hugged him to give him a sense of comfort.

"Thanks." He told her as he hugged her back.

"A walker got him. A walker bit Jim!" They heard Jackie yell.

Everyone walked over in question.

"Show it to us." Daryl demanded.

"Easy, Jim." Shane said when Jim grabbed a shovel.

"Grab him." Daryl told T-Dog.

T-Dog came up from behind Jim and grabbed his arms. Daryl lifted Jim's shirt then backed away in shock at the sight of the bite. Jim continually said, "I'm okay."

He defiantly was not.

The day got hotter, so Penny took off her over shirt and left on her black tank top with her black shorts. They sat down Jim while they talked about what to do with him.

"I say we put a pickaxe in his head." Daryl suggested. "And the dead girl's and be done with it."

"Is that what you want? If it were you?" Shane asked him.

"Yeah, and I'd thank you while you did it." Daryl said sharply.

"I hate to say it-I never thought I would-but maybe Daryl's right." Dale spoke up.

"Jim's not a monster, Dale, or some rabid dog." Rick said.

"I'm not suggesting-"

"He's sick. A sick man." Rick interrupted. "We start down that road, where do we draw the line?"

"The line's pretty clear. Zero tolerance for walkers." Daryl snapped.

Penny hadn't said a word this whole time. She stood next to Daryl, thinking.

"What if we can get him help?" Rick asked. "I heard the C.D.C. was working on a cure."

"Yeah, I heard that too. Heard a lot of things before the world went to hell." Penny spoke up.

"You don't think there's hope for him?" Rick asked her.

"No, I don't." Penny responded. "I think it's stupid to bother in believing people are trying to find a cure."

"What if the C.D.C. is still up and running?" Rick questioned.

"Man, that is a stretch right here." Shane interrupted.

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure at all, they'd protect the C.D.C. at all costs wouldn't they?" Rick insisted. "I think it's our best shot. Shelter, protection-"

"Okay, Rick, you want those things, all right? I do too okay?" Shane told him.

Shane started talking about Fort Benning, a military base, but Penny was no longer listening. It was stupid to think there was hope left for anyone. She knew Amy's fate, and Jim's. She's seen it happen too many times. Maggie, Lucy, Nancy, Bruce. Daryl was right. It was time to stop being so stupid and giving Jim false hope of making it. Penny turned and looked at Jim.

"You go looking for aspirin, do what you want." Penny said as her bad side and lack of sleep got the best of her. She quickly grabbed the pickaxe Daryl was holding and ran for Jim. "Someone needs to grow some balls and take care of this damn problem!"

Penny raised the pickaxe as she ran, but Rick pointed his gun at her.

"Hey hey hey!" Rick shouted. "We don't kill the living."

Penny lowered the axe to turn and look at him.

"That's funny. Coming from the guy who's putting a gun to my head." She glared at him.

"We may disagree on some things, not on this. You put it down. Go on." Shane said to her as if he was he father.

She put the axe on the ground and ran off, realizing what she was doing. Lori looked at Daryl.

"You should go talk to her. I don't think she'll listen to anyone else." Lori said to him softly.

"What makes you say that?" He asked her, confused.

"She likes you." Lori stated. "She does even if she doesn't know it yet."

"Whatever." Daryl scoffed as he walked off to go talk to her.

He saw her go to the very edge of the woods. She sat against a tree, hugging her knees.

"What would you call that little outburst back there?" Daryl asked her, more mean than he expected.

"Just leave me alone." She whimpered. When he looked more closely, he saw that she was crying.

"Cry all you want, I ain't leavin' until you explain to me what the hell that was." He said as he stood over her.

"I just lost it for a second, okay?" She said under her tears. "Just go away."

She put her face in her knees and continued to cry. Her crying made Daryl feel extremely uncomfortable and was unsure of what to do.

"You can't sit here all day, we've got work to do." What he said came out harsher than he had hoped.

She stood up and looked at him sharply. He could see the dark circles under her eyes, indicating she hasn't been sleeping for days, maybe even weeks.

"I said, go away." Her voice got more demanding, warning him to back off.

She was pushing him away on purpose. She didn't want him to see her cry.

His blue eyes stared into her grey ones. He got angry at her.

"Hey, I didn't have to come over here! You're lucky someone in this camp cares! Rick couldn't give two shits about ya! If you don't want me to care, then fine! I'm done with you." Daryl turned and walked off.

"Daryl!" Penny called after him.

"What?" He snapped as he turned around. She walked closer then stopped.

"If you got something to say, say it." Daryl spat.

"I-I have nothing to say." She said to him, trying to stop the tears.

He looked and noticed she still had her black eye and the green bruise on her cheek. He remembered how angry he got at the guy who did it. He remembered how much he worried. His gut told him to stop arguing and yelling at her; she's been through enough. But he just kept going.

"If you got nothing to say, then just shut up and leave me alone." He spat.

"Daryl, you don't understand. Every time I care about someone, they die." Penny explained. "I'm tired of seeing my loved one's die. That's why it's best if I just stop caring."

Daryl took what she said and thought it over. She doesn't want to care about him so that's why she's pushing him away, so she wouldn't have to deal with his death.

"Just shut up." He grunted as he pulled her into a hug. She froze from the sudden intimacy, but eventually forced herself to stop being angry and upset and relax. She wrapped her arms around his waist while his were wrapped around her shoulders.

"Come on, we got work to do." He said as he released her. She nodded her head and they went over to go burn more geeks.

"Oh come on." Glenn whined as he watched them.

"What?" Dale asked.

"Out of all the guys in this camp, why does Penny like the Dixons?" Glenn said irritated.

"If I'm not mistaken, she was never in a romantic relationship with Merle. And so what if she likes Daryl? He has done nothing wrong, and I don't think it's your business." Dale stated.

"What does Daryl have that I don't?"

"Calm down son, you're not helping yourself." Dale patted Glenn's shoulder as he walked away from him.

Daryl took the pickaxe and stabbed another walker in the head. Ed's dead, half-eaten body was next.

"I'll do it. He's my husband." Carol said walking over.

Daryl handed her the axe. Carol lifted it and stabbed his head. But she didn't stop. She just kept going. Even though it was kind of freaking Daryl out, Penny actually grew some sort of respect for the woman.

Penny heard a walker and saw that it was Amy.

"Amy." Andrea said crying. "Amy I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not ever being there. I always thought there'd be more time. I'm here now, Amy. I'm here. I love you."

Andrea took her gun and shot Amy in the head.

"Come on." Daryl said, gently pulling Penny's arm. "Gotta take these bodies up to the graves."

Daryl and Penny got into the truck and drove up the hill where Shane and Rick were making the graves bigger.

"I still think it's a mistake not burning these bodies." Daryl said as the two walked up to Shane and Rick. "It's what we said we'd do right? Burn 'em all, wasn't that the idea?"

The whole group walked up the hill and stood by the truck.

"At first." Shane responded.

"The chinaman gets all emotional, says it's not the thing to do, we just follow him along?" Daryl continued. "These people need to know who the hell's in charge around here, what the rules are."

"There are no rules." Rick told him.

"Well that's a problem." Lori interrupted. "We haven't had one minute to hold onto our old selves. We need time to mourn, and we need to bury our dead. It's what people do."

Lori walked off angry. The men began putting the bodies into their graves. The last one was Amy. Andrea insisted she do it herself. Dale tried helping her, and she soon accepted. Penny saw that Andrea's clothes were covered in blood and thought about giving her some of her own clothes to show gratitude.

Later, Penny tried finding Rick so she could say she was sorry about her outburst from earlier.

"Hey, Dale." Penny walked up to Dale. "Where's Rick?"

"He and Shane went out scouting into the woods." He responded.

"Thanks."

Penny walked through the trees and spotted Shane, pointing his gun nervously. She looked and saw he was aiming right at Rick, who wasn't noticing. Shane hesitated and didn't pull the trigger. As he lowered his gun, he looked over and noticed Penny staring at him, freaked out.

"Jesus." Penny said, scared.

"I know." Shane laughed nervously. "Gonna have to start wearing reflective vests out here. Seriously."

Penny continued to stare in her frightened expression.

"Come on, man." Shane called out for Rick. He turned to Penny. "Come on, there's nothing out here."

Penny started to think Shane isn't as sane as he appears to be.

They walked back to the group.

"I've been thinking about Rick's plan." Shane said to the group. "Now look, there are no-there are no guarantees either way. I'll be the first one to admit that. I've known this man a long time. I trust his instincts. I say the most important thing we need here is we need to stay together. So those of you that agree, we leave first thing in the morning, okay?"

Night fell again and Penny walked towards the Dixon tent. As she began opening it, she began thinking it would be better if she went to Andrea's tent. When she opened the tent, she saw Daryl there putting his crossbow away.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Nothing, I just-this is where I've been staying since I got here, and-if you don't want me here, I get it." Penny said feeling nervous.

"Figured you would've went to the chinaman's tent. You've been getting' along pretty good by the looks of it."

Penny immediately sensed jealousy in his voice.

"Glenn? Glenn's my friend-but, I don't-like him like that." Penny responded. "I guess I'll just go." Penny began to step out to go over to Andrea's tent.

"Oh just stop and get in here. You can sleep on my brother's bed."

Penny slowly walked in and sat on Merle's bed which across from Daryl's. She could've sworn he mumbled under his breath, "You've slept in it before I guess. Doubt you were sleeping anyways." He said it so low, she decided to just ignore it.

"Just don't bother me." Daryl said as he lied down and turned his back to her.

"Okay. See you tomorrow." Penny said as she too lied down. She closed her eyes.

_"Penny please shoot me. I don't want to be like them." She heard Lucy say._

"You're my best friend, Lucy."

"You're my best friend, Penny."

Penny raised her gun and shot Lucy in her head, ending her life.

Penny's eyes shot open. She turned on her side and quietly cried the rest of the night. Unknown to her, Daryl lied there listening, maybe or maybe not feeling sympathy.

"Everybody listen up." Shane started. "Those of you with C.B.'s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the R.V. Any questions?"

"We're, uh, we're not going." Morales spoke up.

"We have family in Birmingham." Morales's wife said. "We want to be with our people."

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone watch your back." Shane warned.

"We'll take the chance." Morales said. "I got to do what's best for my family."

Penny knew very well this was not the best. It was the stupidest.

"You sure?" Rick asked.

"We talked about it. We're sure." Morales replied.

Rick handed Morales a 357 gun.

"The box is half full." Shane told him.

Daryl and Penny scoffed, knowing it would be useless.

"Thank you all." Morales's wife said. "For everything."

Some gave hugs goodbye and their daughter gave Sophia her doll to keep.

"Channel 40. If you change your minds." Rick told Morales.

"What makes you think our odds are any better?" Shane asked Rick. "come on, let's go. Let's move out."

"Want a ride?" Daryl asked Penny.

"Sure." She replied.

The two got into the truck that had Merle's motorcycle in the back. Glenn, Dale, Jackie, and Jim were in the R.V. Rick, Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Carol were in the van, Shane was in a jeep by himself, and Andrea and T-Dog were in another car.

All together, they drove off. In a way, they were happy to be moving on from that place.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose." Dale said as Rick blew the smoke away coming from the R.V. "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

"

Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked.

"That's all it's been so far. It's more duct-tape than hose. And I'm out of duct-tape." Dale responded.

"I see something up ahead." Shane said. "A gas station if we're lucky."

"Y'all, Jim." Jackie said coming out of the R.V. "It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

"Hey, Rick, you want to hold down the fort? I'll drive ahead, see what we can bring back." Shane offered.

"Yeah, I'll come too and I'll back you up." T-Dog.

"Y'all keep your eyes open now. We'll be right back." Shane and T-Dog left.

"I don't like it." Penny said.

"Like what?" Daryl asked her.

"Shane. He's scaring me. I should've gone with them."

"Why? What'd he do?"

"He was going to kill Rick." She whispered so no one else could hear. "If I wasn't there to catch him, who knows what could've happened."

"Just stick close to me." Daryl told her.

"Thanks."

"Hey, what was up with all that crying you were doin' last night?" Daryl asked her.

"It was nothing. I just had a nightmare, that's all." Penny answered quickly.

"Didn't sound like nothing." Daryl responded.

Rick came out of the R.V. after talking to Jim.

"He wants us to leave him here." Rick said.

"Are you serious?" Penny asked.

"It's what he says he wants." Rick responded.

"And he's lucid?" Carol asked.

"He seems to be. I would say yes." Rick replied.

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood. I would _never_ go along with callously killing a man." Dale spoke up. "I was just gonna suggest that we _ask_ Jim what _he_ wants. And I think we have an answer."

"We just leave him here? We take off? Not ending his suffering?" Penny said to Rick. "I'm not sure if I can live with that."

"It's not your call." Lori said. "Either one of you."

When Shane and T-Dog got back, Shane and Rick laid Jim against a tree.

"Hey." Jim said. "Another damn tree."

One time he got heat stroke and went nuts, so Shane tied him to a tree.

"Hey Jim-I mean, you know it doesn't have to be this." Shane told him.

"No, it's good. The breeze feels nice." Jim responded, breathing heavily.

"Just close your eyes sweetie, don't fight." Jackie said, kissing him on the cheek to say goodbye.

"Jim, do you want this?" Rick asked, showing a gun.

"No. You'll need it." Jim told him. "I'm okay."

"Thanks for uh-for fighting for us." Dale said to Jim.

Everyone else walked off, leaving only Penny left and Daryl on the side, waiting for her. She gave a small smile to say sorry and goodbye at the same time. He returned a smile back. She walked past Daryl who gave Jim a slight nod. They walked back to the truck while he put his arm around her for comfort reasons.

Everyone drove off, leaving Jim to die alone, so he could finally reunite with his family.

Night began to get closer, and everyone pulled over. When the group got out, they saw tons of dead walkers stinking up the streets. Penny began coughing from the smell, and others followed.

"Stay quiet and stay close. Let's go." Shane whispered.

Daryl had his crossbow in one hand and held onto Penny's wrist with the other while the others moved along, trying to block the smell, but it was too strong.

"Keep moving, stay together." Rick said as he led the way up to the C.D.C. building.

Rick and Shane tried getting the doors open, but they didn't budge.

"There's nobody here." T-Dog told Rick.

"Then why are these shutters down?" Rick questioned.

"Walkers!" Daryl yelled as he spotted a walker. He released Penny and shot the walker with his crossbow.

"You led us into a graveyard!" Daryl yelled at Rick, as he wrapped his arm protectively over Penny's shoulders.

"He made a call." Shane said.

"It was the wrong damn call!" Daryl shouted.

"Just shut up. You hear me? Shut up. Shut up!" Shane yelled at Daryl. "Rick, this is a dead end."

"Where are we gonna go?" Carol panicked.

"Do you hear me? No blame." Shane said to Rick.

"More walkers are coming! We're not safe here." Penny stated.

"She's right. We can't be here this close to the city after dark." Lori panicked as she clutched Carl.

"Fort Benning, Rick-still an option." Shane said, panting.

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles." Penny stated.

"125. I checked the map." Glenn said.

"Forget Fort Benning. We need answers _tonight, now._" Lori insisted.

"We'll think of something." Rick insisted, trying to relax everyone.

"Let's get out of here." Everyone panicked as more walkers approached.

Penny looked at the security camera.

"All right, everybody back to the cars." Shane ordered.

"The camera-it moved." Penny said, making everyone freeze.

"You imagined it." Dale told her.

"It moved." She said, leaving Daryl, stepping closer to the camera.

"Penny, it's dead. It's an automated device. It's gears okay?" Shane told her. "They're just winding down. Now come on. Listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay?" He tried pushing he back.

Penny shoved him and banged on the door.

"Penny, there's nobody there!" Lori and Andrea shouted.

"I know you're in there. I know you can hear me." Penny said looking at the camera. "Please, we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left."

"Penny, there's nobody here." Lori walked up and stood in front of her. "You haven't been sleeping, you're seeing things sweetie, please. There's no one here."

"We have nowhere else to go." Penny ignored her and continued looking at the camera. "If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please!"

"Come on, let's go." Shane grabbed Penny around her torso, lifting her up and pulling her away from the door.

"You're killing us! You're killing us!" Penny shouted as she kicked and thrashed.

As Shane put her down, everyone turned in shock to see the door open.


	6. TS-19 Part 1

The flashback in this chapter is in First Person POV because it's an actual part from the book Infection. Hope you like it! See you June 9th!

Season 1-Episode 6: TS-19

Part 1:

"I'm sorry Penny. You're gonna have to take it easy for a few days." Nancy, my mom, told me.

"No." I said angrily, trying to stand. The standing didn't work out too well.

"Yes, Penny. You have to." She said to me as she put her hand on my shoulder.

"But I have to go out for supplies tomorrow. We're running low." I explained to her. "It's the only time I don't feel like a prisoner."

That wasn't the whole truth. I also dreaded going out there. It's so scary. I hate it. But I enjoy feeling the sun on my skin for an hour or two.

"You're not a prisoner, and there's nothing wrong with getting some rest. You really need it."

I don't understand why she's being nice to me all the time. I guess it's because she feels sorry for me. She thinks I'm insane, so she's actually trying not to get on my nerves now. As for Maggie, she still doesn't fully understand what's going on. She still occasionally asks where her parents are. They're not dead. They're living in a refugee camp in Florida. Or are they?

No one could get a phone line out. Nancy never made the phone call that day. She was lying to herself. Wow, mom, wow. And she thinks I'm the crazy one?

It's been two days. I barely get out of my bed. I've been resting my knee. I am tired. Maybe I could just take a nap. Maybe I could.

I could see Lucy's face.

"Penny, please." Lucy said under her tears.

The man who helped me. The man who got bitten. The man behind the desk.

"Please survive." He shot himself.

"Penny, please shoot me." Lucy cried. "I don't want to be like them."

"The disease has gone global." The man on the screen said. "It seems to infest and attack the brain. There is no way to stop it."

Lucy offered me the gun. I slowly took it.

"There is no cure." Said the man on the screen.

"You're my best friend, Lucy." I told her, struggling with my tears.

"You're my best friend, Penny." She cried too.

"The numbers have reached up to 300,000,000! 300,000,000 Americans have been infected in just one day! People, take every precaution necessary to protect yourselves. Wait, wait, the government has made a refugee camp in West Virginia! If you can, get to this camp as soon as possible!"

A person crashed into my window. I screamed and started to panic. I've never seen anything like it. A decomposing body moving, and looking at me.

I quickly picked up the gun and put it to Lucy's head and shot her. Why me? Why? I get close to someone, and they die.

I shot my eyes open and jumped out of my bed. I ran past Maggie, who was sitting on the couch. I limped as I ran to the kitchen. I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take seeing Lucy's face as I shot her. I couldn't take being a prisoner in this cellar. I couldn't take being scared out of my mind anymore. I couldn't take killing another biter. I couldn't take being angry anymore. And I couldn't take one more fucking second of being miserable!

I opened the draw and pulled the 38 gun. I was gonna do it, and I don't care. I don't care. I just don't fucking care anymore!

"Penny!" Nancy yelled running after me. She pulled me into her grasp, and smacked the gun out of my hand, which I was pointing at my head. I shoved her to the floor.

"I'm done! I'm so done!" I yelled at her. "I can't take it anymore! I just wanna be done!"

I ran into the bathroom to overdose. She's not gonna stop me. When I took the bottle out of the cabinet, I attempted to open it. I froze, and the bottle of pills dropped from my hands and fell to the floor, still closed. My knees buckled, and I began to cry.

"Mommy!" I cried. I put my hands to my chest and couldn't stop crying. "I can't breathe! My chest is too tight!" I was having an anxiety attack. Why me? Why?

Nancy walked over to me and held me; just letting me cry. I looked over and saw Maggie, standing in the doorway, staring at me horrified.

She saw everything. Maggie saw everything I did. Someone, anyone, please relieve me of my pain. Please.

The door was open, and no one could believe it. Everyone walked in.

"Hello?" Rick called out as everyone walked inside. "Hello?"

They suddenly heard a gun cocking and saw a man, alone.

"Anybody infected?" He called out to them.

"One of our group was." Rick answered. "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" He asked, stepping closer.

"A chance." Rick replied.

"That's asking an awful lot these days." The man responded.

"I know." Rick said. The man looked at everyone.

"You all submit to a blood test. That's the price of admission." The man said.

"We can do that." Rick replied.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now." The man said as he lowered his gun. "Once this door closes, it stays closed."

Rick, Daryl, and Glenn hurried with bringing everyone's stuff back, and Dale and T-Dog closed the doors.

"Vi, seal the main entrance." The man said. "Kill the power up here."

"Rick Grimes." Rick introduced himself.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner." The man replied.

Everyone piled into the elevator to go underground.

"Doctors always go around packing heat like that?" Daryl asked Jenner, talking about the military weapon.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarized myself." Jenner answered, "But you look harmless enough. Except you." He looked at Carl. "I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Carl smiled at the compliment.

"Are we underground?" Penny asked as they walked down the hallway.

"You claustrophobic?" Jenner asked her.

"A little." Penny answered. Being back underground brought back horrible memories; the cellar.

"Try not to think about it." Jenner replied.

_It's all I ever think about_, Penny thought.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the Big Room." Jenner said. The lights went on. "Welcome to Zone 5."

"Where is everybody?" Rick asked. "The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it." Jenner answered. "It's just me here."

"What about the person you were speaking with?" Lori asked. "Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests." Jenner said. "Tell them, welcome."

"_Hello guests. Welcome._" Everyone heard a female computer voice echoing through the room.

"I'm all that's left." Jenner said. "I'm sorry. This way, your blood will be taken in here."

Penny sat and Jenner put the needle in her arm.

"Something is very intriguing about you." Jenner smiled at her.

"What?" Penny asked, confused.

"Your eyes. Were they always that color?" He asked her, interested. He looked at her bright silver, grey eyes.

"No. They used to be amber." She answered. "They turned color when I got sick and went into a coma. I was in a coma for a week."

"Interesting." Jenner said, not looking away from her.

She stood after he took her blood, and Andrea sat down to be next.

"What's the point?" Andrea asked. "If we were infected, we'd all be running a fever."

"I've already broken every rule in the book letting you in here. Let me just at least be thorough." Jenner responded. "All done."

Andrea stood up, but got dizzy. Penny grabbed her shoulders, helping her stand.

"Are you okay?" Jenner asked.

"She hasn't eaten in days." Penny answered. "None of us have."

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner. And in France." Dale laughed to Lori.

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then." Lori said as she sipped wine.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on." Rick laughed. "Come on."

Dale put some wine into a glass and handed it to Carl.

"There you are young lad." Dale said as he handed him the cup. Carl drank one gulp.

"Eww." Carl said, disgusted.

"That's my boy. That's my boy." Lori patted Carl's back.

Everyone laughed. Penny loved laughing. It wasn't something she did anymore.

"Well, just stick to soda pop there, bud." Shane laughed.

"Not you Glenn." Daryl said.

"What?" Glenn laughed nervously.

"Keep drinking little man, I wanna see how red your face can get." Daryl laughed.

Penny laughed and patted Glenn's back. Rick clinked his glass to make a toast.

"It seems to me we haven't thanked our host properly." Rick said standing up.

"He is more than just our host." T-Dog raised his glass.

"Here's to you doc."

"Hear hear!"

"Booyah!" Daryl shouted as he drank from the bottle.

"So when are you gonna tell us what happened here doc?" Shane asked, ruining the moment. "All the-the other doctors. That were supposed to be figuring out what happened. Where are they?"

"We're celebrating Shane. Don't need to do this now." Rick told him, sitting down.

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here right? This was your move-supposed to find all the answers. Instead we-we found him. Found one man. Why?" Shane said.

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left, went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted." Jenner explained.

"Every last one?" Shane asked.

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door." Jenner told him. "They…opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave." Andrea spoke up. "Why?"

"I just kept working, hoping to do some good." Jenner answered.

"Dude, you are such a buzz kill man." Glenn said to Shane after a moment of silence.

Penny couldn't help but agree.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here." Jenner explained as they walked down the narrow hallway. "The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down that hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same applies-if you shower, go easy on the hot water."

Jenner walked off. Everyone looked so happy to hear those words.

"Hot water?" Glenn said smiling.

"That's what the man said." T-Dog smiled.

When Penny stepped into the shower, she had never felt so happy. The hot water touched her bare pale skin as the steam surrounded her, fogging up the windows. She couldn't help but forget all her worries and pain. The fact that she was so thankful for something as little as this said a lot to her. Everything just might be okay, but then again, it just might not.

When she got out of the shower, she walked down the hallway fully dressed in her loose black sweater, black shorts, and white socks.

"Listen to me Dale. There's nothing left." She heard Andrea say through the door. She opened it and saw Andrea on the floor by the toilet with Dale kneeling in front of her.

"Dale?" Penny said walking in. "Can I talk to Andrea alone for a second?"

"Sure." Dale replied, nodding his head as he stood up. He patted Penny's shoulder as he left, closing the door.

"What do you want?" Andrea said through her tears.

"I know how you feel, Andrea." Penny said kneeling in front of her. "I know how it feels to have no will to live. I've-_attempted it_, before."

"You have? What stopped you?" Andrea looked up at Penny, seemingly calming down.

"My mom, she stopped me. And my niece, she made me not want to attempt it ever again." Penny said quietly. "But they're dead now, so why does it matter?"

"What are you saying?" Andrea asked looking at Penny softly.

"We do it together. Tomorrow night while everyone's asleep, we sneak upstairs with our guns and do it together." Penny explained.

"Why? Why would you want to end your life with me?" Andrea asked.

"Because you're my friend. I don't want you to die and I'll have to live with another death of someone I care about. If we both do it, we get to die knowing the people we care about are still alive, and happy. I don't want to die knowing they're dead. I can't deal with anymore sadness." Penny explained. "Tomorrow night. Are you with me?"

"Yes." Andrea replied.

"How are my clothes fitting you?" Penny asked, changing the subject.

"Fine. Thank you, for everything." Andrea smiled.

"That's what friends are for." Penny stood and helped Andrea get up.

Penny walked back to her room. She picked up her brush and brushed her damp black hair. She suddenly heard a knock in her doorway. She turned to see Daryl, holding a liquor bottle.

"Hi, Daryl. What's up?" Penny asked confused.

"I need to talk to you." He said walking in. The way he walked and talked, he was obviously drunk off his ass.

"About what?" Penny asked, still confused.

"I'm jealous of you and Glenn. He's your friend, I get that. But that little chinaman's got a creepy crush on ya, and I don't like that." He said as he waved the bottle around.

"You do realize you're drunk right?" Penny asked, trying to talk some sense into him.

"Hold on, let me finish." Daryl pointed his finger at her. "I'm not protecting you 'cause of my brother. I'm doing it 'cause I like ya. Ms. Olive oil told me you liked me, but I didn't believe her."

"Daryl, just stop, you're drunk." Penny pushed him back gently. She didn't want to hear this. She had her plan with Andrea tomorrow. This was the last thing she wanted; guilt.

"I know that, but you're not letting me finish." Daryl took her hand off of him. "I liked ya ever since I first saw you passed out on my bed. My brother told me stay away from you. That made me realize you were with him."

"Daryl, Merle was my friend. We were never… Together." She wasn't going to tell him, not now.

"Now I got this Asian kid who thinks he's next in line or something'." Daryl ignored what Penny just said. "I just need you to tell me that you want me, not him. I-I'm not used to this emotional shit, I just need to hear it. Give me some peace of mind."

"Daryl," She started tearing up. She couldn't admit anything. He was drunk and she and Andrea were going to kill themselves tomorrow night. Daryl had no idea what he was doing. "Daryl, you don't know what you're saying, please go."

"I actually don't think I'm gonna make it. Can I just pass out on your floor?"

"Uh-sure." Penny hesitated.

He took one last sip of liquor than fell unconscious on the floor. Penny took one of her pillows, lifted his head, and put the pillow under him. She took her blanket and placed it over him, and gently took the bottle and place it on the end table.

"I'm sorry, Daryl." Penny whispered. She lied down on the couch with no blanket and only one pillow.

She lied awake the entire night, hoping Daryl will forget everything he told her the next morning.


	7. TS-19 Part 2

Season 1-Episode 6: TS-19

Part 2:

"Morning." Rick said walking in.

"Are you hung over?" Carl asked with a smirk. "Mom said you'd be."

"Mom is right." Rick answered.

"Mom has that annoying habit." Lori said she chewed bacon.

"Eggs. Powdered, but-but I do 'em good." T-Dog announced. "I bet you can't tell."

Glenn moaned in agony as Penny rubbed his back.

"Protein helps the hangover." T-Dog served Glenn eggs. Glenn moaned again.

"Where'd all this come from?" Rick asked.

"Jenner." Penny answered. "He thought we could use it."

"Don't ever ever _ever_ let me drink again." Glenn groaned. Penny rubbed his back to sooth him.

"Hey." Shane greeted.

"Hey." Rick responded. "Feel as bad as I do?"

"Worse." Shane replied.

"The hell happened to you?" T-Dog asked Shane, seeing deep scratches on his neck. "You're neck."

"I must've done it in my sleep." Shane responded as he sat down.

"Never seen you do that before." Rick said.

"Me neither." Shane said. "Not like me at all." Penny noticed he looked right at Lori when he said that. She knew there was more to the story.

Daryl came in clutching his head. He looked right at Penny. Penny ducked her head nervously.

"You okay?" Glenn asked her, noticing.

"Yeah." Penny raised her head and smiled at him. "Just eat. It'll help that hangover." She patted his back and gave a quick look to Andrea. They gave each other a nod, agreeing that they were still going through with their plan.

"Morning." Jenner said walking in.

"Hey, doc." Shane greeted.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing-" Dale said.

"But you will anyway." Jenner finished.

"We didn't come here for the eggs." Andrea stated.

Jenner took everyone to Zone 5.

"Give me playback of TS-19." Jenner told the computer.

"_Playback of TS-19._"

"Few people ever got a chance to see this. Very few." Jenner said.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked, looking at the screen.

"An extraordinary one." Jenner replied. "Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V."

"_Enhanced internal view._"

The screen zoomed in on the brain, and a bunch of bright lights could be seen spiraling throughout all over.

"What are those lights?" Shane asked.

"It's a person's life, experiences, memories." Jenner explained. "It's everything. Somewhere in that organic wiring, all those ripples of light, is you. The thing that makes you unique. And human."

"You don't make sense, ever?" Daryl looked at the screen.

"Those are synapses. Electrical impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says, does, or thinks from the moment of birth, to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?" Rick asked.

"Yes." Jenner replied. "Or rather, the playback of the vigil."

"This person died?" Andrea asked. "Who?"

"Test Subject 19." Jenner replied. "Someone who was bitten and infected. And volunteered to have us, record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

"_Scanning to first event."_

"What is that?" Glenn asked, looking at the screen.

"It invades the brain like meningitis." Jenner explained. "The adrenal glands hemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death."

The brain on the screen went black, indicating that the person died.

"Everything you ever were or ever will be… Gone." Jenner finished.

"Is that what happened to Jim?" Sophia asked Carol in her sweet voice.

"Yes." Carol answered.

Jenner noticed Andrea tearing up. Penny hugged her friend to give comfort.

_Don't worry Andrea, it'll all be over soon, _Penny thought as Andrea hugged back.

"She lost somebody two days ago." Lori explained. "Her sister."

"I lost somebody too. I know how devastating it is." Jenner calmly said to Andrea. "Scan to the second event."

"_Scanning to second event."_

"The resurrection times vary wildly. We had reports of it happening in as little as three minutes." Jenner explained as Penny released Andrea to look at the screen. "The longest we've heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute… Seven seconds."

The brain on the screen soon had small ripples of red lights at the brain stem.

"It restarts the brain?" Lori questioned.

"No, just the brainstem." Jenner corrected. "Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive." Penny spoke up.

"You tell me." Jenner said to her, giving her a funny look.

"It's nothing like before." Penny said looking at the brain. "Most of that brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead." Jenner said. "The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part-that doesn't come back. The _you_ part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

Suddenly a flash of light went through the brain, making the red lights go away.

"God. What was that?" Carol asked.

"He shot his patient in the head." Andrea looked to Jenner. "Didn't you?"

"Vi, power down the main screen and workstations." Jenner commanded.

"_Powering down main screen and workstations."_

"You have no idea what it is do you?" Penny said pouting.

"It could be microbial, viral, parasitic, fungal." Jenner answered.

"Or the wrath of God?" Jackie said.

"There's that." Jenner said.

"Somebody must know something." Andrea said. "Somebody, somewhere."

"There are others right? Other facilities?" Carol asked.

"There may be some." Jenner replied. "People like me."

"But you don't know? How can you not know?" Rick insisted.

"Everything went down. Communications, directives-all of it." Jenner responded. "I've been in the dark for almost a month."

"So it's not just here." Andrea said. "There's nothing left anywhere? Nothing?" Andrea said it as it she almost wanted to hear it. She was bolting out tonight, and she didn't want to go if there was still hope out there somewhere. "That's what you're really saying, right?"

"Man, I'm gonna get shit faced drunk again." Daryl said clutching his head.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you, and I hate to ask one more question but… That clock-it's counting down." Dale said pointing at the big red timer. "What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators-they run out of fuel." Jenner said quickly.

"And then?" Rick insisted.

Jenner didn't answer. He just walked away.

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?" Rick asked Vi.

"_When the power runs out, facility wide decontamination will occur."_

"Decontamination? What does that mean?" Glenn said as he, Shane, Rick, T-Dog, and Penny ran down into the basement.

"I don't like the way Jenner clammed up." Shane replied. "The way he just wandered off like that."

"What's wrong with him? Seriously, man." T-Dog said once they were in the basement. "Is he nuts, medicated, what?"

Rick looked at a map and pointed to the right.

"In there." Rick said while everyone followed him.

"Check that way." He told Glenn and Penny. "Shane." He gestured Shane to come with him. T-Dog went off by himself.

Penny walked with Glenn as they looked around. She began thinking about her plan with Andrea.

"You okay?" Glenn asked, noticing the look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied, obviously not meaning it.

"It's okay. You can tell me later." Glenn said, giving her an assuring glance.

They spotted a generator that had no more fuel.

"It's empty." Penny said after shaking it.

The lights suddenly went out.

"_Emergency lighting on."_

"What's happening?" Glenn asked worried.

"I don't know." Penny responded.

They ran back to Rick and Shane.

"Hey, you guys kill the lights?" Glenn asked.

"Nah, it just went out." Shane replied.

"Anything?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, a lot of dead generators and more empty fuel drums than I can count." T-dog replied.

"It can't be down to just that one." Shane said looking at the last generator.

"We need to find out what's going on, right now." Rick said sternly.

The five ran back upstairs for answers.

"Rick?" Lori called out.

"Jenner, what's happening?" Rick begged.

"The system is dropping all the nonessential uses of power. It's designed to keep the computers running to the last possible second. That started as we approached the half-hour mark. Right on schedule." Jenner explained.

Penny saw the timer at 31 minutes and 27 seconds.

"It was the French." Jenner suddenly said.

"What?" Andrea asked, confused.

"They were the last ones to hold out as far as I knew. While our people were bolting out the doors and committing suicide in the hallways, the stayed in the labs 'till the end. They thought they were close to a solution."

"What happened?" Jackie asked.

"The same thing that's happening here. No power grid. Ran out of juice." Jenner answered. "The world runs on fossil fuel. I mean, how stupid is that?"

"Let me tell you." Shane started.

"To hell with it Shane I don't even care." Rick said. "Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here, _now_!"

"Okay." Lori panted.

An alarm began echoing through the room, making everyone jump.

"_30 minutes to decontamination."_

"Y'all heard Rick! Get your stuff!" Shane shouted. The doors suddenly became locked and shut.

"Did you just lock us in?" Glenn panicked. "He just locked us in!"

"You son of a bitch! You locked us in here!" Daryl ran after Jenner with Shane going to stop him.

"Jenner, open that door now." Rick demanded.

"There's no point. Everything top side is locked down. The emergency exists are sealed."

"Well open the damn things." Daryl demanded.

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you, once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?" Rick insisted. When Jenner didn't answer, Rick got angry. "What happens in 28 minutes!"

"Do you know what this place is!" Jenner started yelling. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever!" He sat down, relaxing a little. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure-In a terrorist attack for example-H.I.T.'s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"What are H.I.T.'s?" Penny asked nervously as Daryl went and held her protectively.

"Vi, define." Jenner commanded.

"_H.I.T.'s, high impulse thermo baric fuel - air explosives consist of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum pressure effect ignites the oxygen at between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees, and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."_

"It sets the air on fire." Jenner said calmly. "No pain. An end to sorrow, grief, regret… Everything."

Penny and Andrea looked at each other as Daryl clutched her tighter. Penny teared up.

Was this really how she wanted to go?


	8. TS-19 Part 3

Season 1-Episode 6: TS-19

Part 3:

"Open the damn door!" Daryl shouted.

"Out of my way!" Shane yelled as he ran to the door.

Shane and Daryl took axes and kept hitting as hard as they could but the door wouldn't budge. Lori, Carl, Sophia, and Carol sat and cried, not knowing what to do. Penny stood by Andrea, who was also sitting, but not crying.

"You should've left well enough alone." Jenner said. "It would've been so much easier."

"Easier for who?" Lori demanded as she hugged her son.

"All of you. You know what's out there-a short, brutal life and an agonizing death." Jenner looked to Andrea. "Your-your sister-what was her name?"

"Amy."

"_Amy_. You know what this does. You've seen it." Jenner looked at Rick. "Is that really what you want for your wife and son?"

"I don't want _this_." Rick told him.

"Can't make a dent." Shane panted.

"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner told him.

"Well your head ain't!" Daryl yelled, running at him with the axe.

"Whoa, whoa! Daryl back off!" The men yelled, pulling him back.

"Don't worry. We're getting out of here." Daryl told Penny firmly.

"You _do_ want this. Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead." Jenner said to Rick.

Everyone looked at Rick questioningly.

"What? You really said that?" Shane asked him. "After all your big talk?"

"I had to keep hope alive didn't I?" Rick explained.

"There is no hope." Jenner said. "There never was."

"There's always hope." Rick stated. "Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere-"

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea spat as she hugged her knees.

Maybe Andrea still wanted to die, but Penny wasn't sure of herself anymore. If she wanted to die, she wanted to die with a choice. Not being locked in and forced to die without one. She could always change her mind. That shred of hope Rick spoke of. To survive somewhere safe. That was something Penny never gave up on. When she lost Maggie, she wanted and had every right to shoot herself and let that herd eat her corpse. But why? She wanted to live. She had never lost that shred of hope.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it." Jenner said to Rick. "This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

"This isn't right." Carol cried as she held Sophia. "You can't just keep us here."

"One tiny moment-a millisecond. No pain." Jenner kindly explained.

"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like _this_." Carol cried.

"Wouldn't it be kinder, more compassionate, to just hold your loved ones and wait for the clock to run down?"

Penny heard a gun cock and saw it was Shane going for Jenner.

"No, Shane!" Rick yelled.

"Outta the way, Rick!" Shane yelled. "Open that door or I'm gonna blow your head off. Do you hear me!"

"Brother, brother, this is not the way you do this." Rick tried relaxing him. "We'll never get out of here."

"Shane, listen to him." Penny spoke up. "If he dies, we all die! Shane!"

Shane lost it and started shooting everywhere while everyone took cover. Rick hit him and grabbed the gun and stood over him.

"Are you done now? Are you done?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, I guess we all are." Shane responded.

Rick handed the gun to T-Dog. Everything went quiet.

"I think you're lying." Penny spoke up to Jenner.

"What?" Jenner asked.

"You're lying. About no hope." Penny stepped forward, away from Andrea. "If that were true, you'd have bolted out with the rest or taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose the hard path. Why?"

Penny could've taken the easy way out, but she didn't. She chose the hard path too. To live. Why? She guessed she wasn't just asking Jenner that question, she was also asking herself.

"It doesn't matter." Jenner replied.

"It does matter. It always matters." Penny insisted. "You stayed when others ran. Why?"

"Not because I wanted to." Jenner snapped. "I made a promise… To her, my wife." Jenner pointed at the big screen.

"Test Subject 19 was your wife?" Penny was taken aback.

"She begged me to keep going as long as I could. How could I say no?" Jenner explained as Daryl started hitting the door with the axe again. "She was dying. It should've been me on that table. I wouldn't have mattered to anybody. She was a loss to the _world_. Hell, she ran this place, I just worked here. In our field she was an _Einstein_. Me? I'm just, Edwin Jenner. She could've done something about this. Not me."

"You're wife didn't have a choice." Penny said. That's all she wanted was a choice. "You do. That's-that's all we want-a choice, a chance. Let us keep trying as long as we can."

When the infection first broke out, there was a refugee camp a couple states away. Her, her mother, and her niece, Maggie stayed at a hotel. The hotel got attacked by the infected and was being overrun. So many people were screaming and running. The man behind the desk had helped her when he didn't have to. He had been bitten during the attack. He grabbed a gun and told Penny one thing. "Please survive." Then he shot himself right in front of her. She had kept that promise ever since that night.

Penny always lived by a motto. You don't know what you'll do until it happens. When it's right in front of you. She thought she wanted to die, and maybe she still did. But now the moment was right in front of her only for her to realize that even though this was the end of the world, she still had so much more to live for. Her friends, and the will to survive. Maybe she still wanted to die, but right now, at this time, it just wasn't right. This just wasn't the time. It just wasn't _her _time yet. Not just yet.

"I told you topside's locked down. I can't open those." Jenner said. He walked over to a key pad and put a code in, opening the door.

"Come on!" Daryl called out.

Everyone ran for the door with their stuff. Penny was puzzled to see herself still standing still.

"There's your chance. Take it." Jenner said to her as if he was reading her mind the entire time.

"I'm grateful." Rick said as he started to hurry out.

"The day will come when you won't be." Jenner warned.

"Let's go!" Glenn yelled to Penny and Rick.

Suddenly, Jenner began whispering something into Rick's ear. Penny grabbed Rick's hand to pull him towards the door.

"Hey! We've got four minutes left! Come on!" Glenn yelled.

"No I'm staying." Jackie told T-Dog. "I'm staying sweetie."

"But that's insane!" T-Dog insisted.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue. And no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out." Jackie told him.

"I'm staying too." Andrea said.

"Andrea, _no_!" Dale cried.

"Penny, you promised." Andrea said.

"Maybe I should stay." Penny said nervously. Was she really making this choice? After all her thinking?

"No! Penny I'll drag you out if I have to, you're comin'!" Daryl ran to her, grabbing her wrist.

"Penny." Andrea tried fighting tears.

"I'm sorry Andrea." Penny said, crying.

"Just go! Go!" Dale told them.

Everyone ran off, leaving Dale, Andrea, Jenner, and Jackie.

The group ran up countless amount of stairs before they finally reached the top where they first entered.

"Get them doors open!"

T-Dog and Glenn pushed on the doors.

"It doesn't work!" Glenn yelled.

"T-Dog! Try the keypad on the wall!" Penny shouted.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute!" T-Dog yelled, running for the keypad. "Try it! Try it!"

Glenn tried, but it wasn't working.

"Daryl!" Penny yelled running up the steps up to the windows. Daryl tossed her an axe and they both began hitting the glass, only making a few scratches.

"Daryl look out!" T-Dog yelled as he ran to the window. T-Dog hit the glass multiple times with a chair, but it didn't work. It only made some more scratches.

"Dog! Get down! Get down!" Shane yelled. Shane aimed his gun and shot at the window. The bullet hit the glass but the window didn't shatter. It only broke the bullet into little pieces.

"The glass won't break?" Sophia asked, worried.

"Rick, I have something that might help." Carol said, digging through her bag.

"Carol I don't think a nail file's gonna do it." Penny said sarcastically.

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform I found this in your pocket." Carol showed him the grenade.

"Look out!"

Everyone moved back and got down as Rick pulled on the grenade by the window. Rick panicked and sprinted away and the grenade exploded, making the window shatter.

Everyone ran out. Daryl, Penny, Shane, Rick, and T-Dog killed walkers as they all ran back to the cars.

They all got into the same cars they were in the day before. Penny looked and saw something she couldn't believe.

"Daryl, look!" Penny pointed to the building. "They're coming."

They saw Dale and Andrea walking out, making their way to the R.V. Penny remembered there was only a few seconds left.

"Dale! Get down!" Penny shouted out the window. "Dale, Andrea! Get down! Down!"

Dale and Andrea got down and so did everyone else.

"Come on!" Daryl tugged on her arm, pulling her down.

The C.D.C. building exploded with massive power, making the vehicles shake. Once it was over, everyone lifted their heads.

Dale helped Andrea up and the two got into the R.V. Everyone drove off, away from the C.D.C. As Daryl drove, he and Penny made eye contact. He patted her shoulder as she turned towards her window to finally get some sleep.

She might not have kept Andrea's promise. But she remembered that promise she made to that man behind the desk.

_"Please survive."_ He told her before killing himself.

Survive. That's what she was going to do. With Daryl by her side.

As her friend.


	9. What Lies Ahead

Season 2-Episode 1: What Lies Ahead

One day, two days. It didn't matter. Time didn't seem to matter anymore. Fort Benning. Fort Benning was all Rick could talk about that morning. He wanted to keep hope alive, that there was safety out there somewhere. A place they could call home. A place they could call normal.

Its 125 miles away. They ditched a couple cars to save on gas. Daryl decided to not leave Merle's motorcycle behind. It's all he had left of his brother.

"Wanna ride?" Daryl calmly asked his friend.

Penny turned and nodded her head and the two walked over with the gas they had leftover. As she walked, she looked behind her to see Andrea leaning against the R.V. Andrea's head turned and shot a disappointed look at her once good friend. Penny had broken her promise. Penny could only duck her head and continue walking in Daryl's direction.

Daryl started the engine as Penny threw her leg over the seat to sit behind him. Her arms wrapped around his torso and rested her head on his back.

"Son, let's saddle up." Dale called out to Shane.

Everyone got in their cars, Daryl and Penny in the front, and drove off. They hoped there was a better place out there somewhere.

A few miles on the highway passed by. The wind blew Penny's hair back and sideways as Daryl continued driving. Her eyes squinted from the breeze and light as she rested her head on his back.

She had planned on talking to him about his little confession back at the C.D.C. but she never got the chance. He remained nice to her if he had to, but he talked to her a lot less. She knew he didn't want to talk about it, but she couldn't stop thinking about it.

When Daryl began slowing down all of a sudden, she knew something was up.

"Shit." Daryl mumbled under his breath.

Penny lifted her head to see a graveyard of cars blocking the road. Daryl turned around to tell the others.

"See a way through?" Dale asked Daryl through the window of the R.V. Daryl gestured to the road, showing a narrow path.

All the cars slowly drove and swerved, trying not to bump into anything. A loud noise made Penny turn her head. She saw smoke escaping from the R.V. again. Everyone pulled over and got out.

"I said it. Didn't I say it? A thousand times. Dead in the water." Dale said, looking at the R.V.

"Problem Dale?" Shane asked, looking around.

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-okay that was dumb." Dale said when he saw Daryl looking through the cars.

While Daryl scavenged for stuff, Penny stood by Glenn.

"If you can't find a radiator hose here…" Shane said.

"There's a whole bunch of stuff we can find." Daryl said as he dug out a trunk.

"I can siphon more fuel from these cars for a start." T-Dog said walking over to him.

"Maybe some water." Carol suggested.

"Or food." Glenn spoke.

"This is a graveyard." Lori spoke up. "I don't know how I feel about this."

Penny understood that Lori felt like they were animals. Stealing from the dead without a shred of respect.

"Come on y'all. Let's just look around. Gather what you can." Shane ordered.

Daryl, T-Dog, and Penny walked down and started getting more fuel. Daryl wandered off on his own, leaving Penny and T-Dog. Once T-Dog knew he was gone, he started talking.

"What's up with you and Dixon, man?" T-Dog asked Penny.

"What do you mean?" Penny tried to sound confused.

"The way you guys have been avoiding each other. Thought he was your buddy."

"Okay, _Glenn_ is my buddy." Penny laughed.

"I think everyone's feeling the tension between you and Andrea. You guys have a fight or something?"

"Not exactly. But she'll get over it."

"Well she better because I'm not diggin' this boy talkin' stuff."

"You're the one who brought him up." Penny laughed at him.

"I just thought you wanted someone to talk to." T-Dog raised his hands in defense. "Figured you were done with hating me for the time being."

"T-Dog I never hated you." Penny said as they walked to another car. "I was just pissed at you."

"You pissed now?" T-Dog asked her.

"Maybe." Penny smirked at him.

She could never forgive him for dropping the key, accident or not, but she knew Merle cutting his hand off was not T-Dog's fault.

Penny's head perked up when she heard a familiar noise. Walkers; a lot of them. The two quickly ducked behind a car door. T-Dog's arm got caught on a piece of metal, piercing his arm badly. T-Dog pulled it out as blood squirted out of his arm at an excessive rate. Penny put her hand on his mouth to silence him as she saw the herd getting closer. T-Dog tried covering the wound with his other hand, but Penny put both of her hands on it as they moved to get further away from the herd. Blood kept squirting out, covering Penny's hands with blood.

T-Dog hunched over as they awkwardly ran further back to hide. T-Dog fell back, taking Penny with him as she kept her hands on his badly bleeding arm. Penny looked and saw he was close to passing out.

A wandering walker appeared, smelling T-Dog's blood. It walked towards them, scaring Penny because she didn't know what to do. Daryl popped out, seeing the walker heading right for Penny and T-Dog. Daryl ran up behind it, killing it by stabbing it in its head. T-Dog shook, his eyes wide, trying not to faint. Penny looked at Daryl and he looked back.

"Help, please." Penny just managed to whisper under her panic.

Daryl put his finger to his lips, shushing her as he came closer. T-Dog fainted as Penny released his arm. Daryl dragged him onto his back and put a dead walker on top of him. Daryl gestured Penny to come closer. As she did, he grabbed her shoulders and made her lie on the ground, next to T-Dog. He put another dead walker on her. She held her breath, not wanting to breathe in the smell. Daryl took another dead walker from a car and put it on top of himself, next to Penny. The walkers limped over them, unaware that they were hiding beneath their own.

Once the herd was gone, Daryl and Penny pushed off their dead walkers and sat up. Penny pushed the dead walker off of T-Dog. Daryl helped her get him to sit up as he regained consciousness.

"Let's get him to Dale." Penny told Daryl as they got T-Dog to stand up. The two put each of T-Dog's arms over their shoulders and awkwardly walked back to the R.V.

"Holy hell, what happened?" Dale looked at T-Dog, shocked.

"An accident. He got pierced by a piece of metal." Penny said as she and Daryl carried T-Dog.

"Bring him into the R.V. I'll patch him up." Dale said to her.

The two put T-Dog into the R.V. as Dale got the first aid kit.

"Where's Rick?" Penny questioned.

"Sophia had a close call of two walkers. Chased her into the woods. Rick ran after her." Shane answered.

Rick came out jogging out of the woods, panting as he looked at everyone.

"I can't find her." Rick panted.

"What? You can't find her? What do you mean you can't find her?" Carol panicked. "My baby's out there by herself?"

"I made her hide while I lured the walkers away. I came back and she was gone. I thought she'd be back here." Rick stated.

"We should go look." Daryl suggested.

"Okay, come on." Rick ordered.

Rick, Daryl, Shane, Penny, and Glenn went into the woods to go search.

"Sure this is the spot?" Daryl said as he stood in the creek.

"I left her right here." Rick gestured to the dam. "I drew the walkers way off in that direction up the creek." Rick pointed to the opposite direction of where they came.

"Without a paddle, seems where we've landed." Daryl said.

"She was gone by the time I got back here." Rick said. "I figured she just took off and ran back to the group. I told her to go that way and keep the sun on her left shoulder."

"Hey, short round, why don't you step off to one side?" Daryl pointed to Glenn. "You're mucking up the trail."

Glenn moved over, following Daryl's orders.

"Assuming she knows her left from her right." Shane commented.

"Shane she understood me fine." Rick told him.

"Kid's tired and scared man. She had her close call with two walkers. Got to wonder how much of what you said stuck." Shane replied.

"Got clear prints right here." Daryl pointed. "She did like you said, headed back to the highway. Let's spread out, make our way back."

"She couldn't have gone far." Penny spoke up.

Daryl led the way, following the trail, with the others behind him.

"She was doing just fine 'till right here." Daryl said as he crouched down. "All she had to do was keep going. She veered off that way." Daryl pointed to his right.

"Why would she do that?" Glenn asked.

"Maybe she saw something that spooked her. Made her run off." Shane suggested.

"A walker?" Penny questioned. What else could've spooked her? A leaf?

"I don't see any other foot prints. Just hers." Daryl said, focusing on the trail.

"Maybe she got confused and lost and turned the wrong way." Penny suggested.

"So what do we do? All of us press on?" Shane asked.

"No, better if we get back up to the highway. People are gonna start panicking." Rick suggested. "Daryl will continue looking with Penny with him. We'll let them know they're on her trail doing everything they can. But most of all, we need to keep everybody calm."

Penny was all for looking for Sophia, but being alone with Daryl? This could be her chance to talk to him, but that didn't matter. She was beyond nervous. What if he didn't want her there? She felt like such a burden on him. She felt like as of right now, he didn't want her around him.

"I'll keep 'em busy scavenging cars." Shane said. "Think up a few other chores. Keep 'em occupied."

Rick, Shane, and Glenn walked off back to the group, leaving Daryl and Penny alone. Daryl continued walking, following the trail as if Penny wasn't even there.

"Tracks are gone." Penny broke the awkward silence.

"No, they're faint, but they ain't gone." Daryl responded while he focused. "She came through here."

"How can you tell?" Penny asked, interested in his keen eye. "I don't see anything. All I see is dirt and grass."

"You want a lesson in tracking or do you want to find that girl and get our ass off that interstate?" Daryl said getting annoyed.

Penny scoffed at his attitude.

"Maybe I want both." Penny told him sheepishly.

"Well right now we're looking for the girl so your lesson is gonna have to wait." Daryl told her, trying to focus.

Penny knew she was annoying him, but she could honestly care less. It was annoying her that he'd been purposely avoiding her for God knows why, so it's about time he got annoyed.

"I've been meaning to talk to you." Penny continued talking.

"About what?" Daryl asked, trying to keep his focus.

"About what you said back in the C.D.C." Penny got nervous.

"You're really bringing this up now?" Daryl kept trying to keep his focus.

"Well I doubt you'll even acknowledge me when we get back up to the interstate, so yeah, I'm bringing it up now." Penny tried to stop herself from getting an attitude. She didn't want to fight, that was the last thing she wanted. She was turning him down.

"It was a mistake, I shouldn't have said it, so forget it. No big deal." Daryl really didn't want to talk about it. Not now, not ever.

"So I'm supposed to just let that go? That's what you're telling me?" Penny's anger was building.

"Yeah that's what I'm sayin', now keep it down." Daryl was starting to get really annoyed.

"Well sorry." Penny said, offended.

The two heard leaves rustling and immediately crouched down. Down below they saw a wandering walker. Penny turned and looked at Daryl. Daryl pointed to where he wanted her to go then pointed to where he was going to go. Penny ran to the bottom of the hill, a few yards away from the walker. She whistled, catching the walker's attention and cuing Daryl at the same time. The walker growled loudly at her then Daryl shot it with his crossbow behind his arrow.

"Sophia!" Daryl called out.

Penny put on her gloves, the ones she used when she cleaned fish, and began carefully checking the walker's mouth.

"What are you looking for?" Daryl asked her.

"There's skin under the fingernails. It fed recently." Penny answered. "There's flesh caught in its teeth."

"Yeah, what kind of flesh?" Daryl asked her.

"Only one way to know for sure." Penny replied, not liking the idea.

Penny ripped the walker's shirt open and she took out her knife. By the look on her face, you could tell she was dreading what she was about to do.

"Here, I'll do it." Daryl said, saving her the trouble. "How many kills you skin and gut in your life? Anyways, mine's sharper."

Daryl put on his own gloves and took out his knife. He raised it above his head then stabbed the walker's gut. As Daryl cut it open, Penny tried her hardest not to puke in front of him. When he stabbed it again, she shot her head away, not wanting to look. When she turned her head back, Daryl shot her a look as if he wanted her to throw up. She shot him a look back, her eyes telling him that she could contain herself. Daryl removed his knife and put it on the ground.

"Now comes the bad part." Daryl warned.

_Oh great_, Penny thought.

Daryl dug his hands into the guts and began digging to find the stomach. The smell was beyond horrific. Daryl pulled out some organs and just tossed them aside. Penny could feel her stomach turning, the vomit threatening to escape. Her breathing became heavier. She put the back of her hand to her mouth, covering it so she wouldn't puke while Daryl pulled out more organs. She inhaled deeply and groaned as she forced herself to control her stomach.

"Yeah, hoss had a big meal not long ago." Daryl said as he felt the stomach. "I feel it in there. Here's the gut bag."

Daryl pulled out the stomach and dropped it in front of Penny.

"I got this." Penny picked up her knife.

"You sure?" Daryl looked at her pale face.

"Yeah." She replied.

Penny groaned as she cut the stomach open. Penny dug her knife in and examined the things we call gross in the stomach.

"This gross bastard had himself a woodchuck for lunch." Daryl said when he pulled out a small skull with his knife.

"At least we know." Penny assured him as he stood.

"At least we know." Daryl repeated.

The two stood and went to walk back to the group.

"It's gettin' too dark. We'll start again tomorrow." Daryl told her as they walked back.

"Okay." She replied.

"For a minute there, I thought you were gonna hurl or somethin'." Daryl held in a laugh.

"I'm not a sissy little girl, Daryl. I never was and I'm not gonna start just because you gutted a biter. You can shove that up your ass and like it." Penny smiled at him.

Daryl chuckled slightly.

"For a girl, you sure got a strong stomach. Gotta say I'm impressed." Daryl said, looking away from her as they continued to walk back.

Penny chuckled as well.

"Oh God. They're back." Glenn said when he spotted Daryl and Penny.

"You didn't find her?" Carol panicked.

"Her trail went cold. We'll pick it up again tomorrow." Penny said, wanting her to calm down and shut up.

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own, to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol cried.

Penny wanted to slap so much sense into her right there.

"Out in the dark's no good." Daryl said before Penny could yell. "We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost."

"But she's twelve, she can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?" Carol's crying and panicking made Penny want to rip her hair out and scream.

"I know this is hard." Rick spoke to her, trying to calm her down. "But I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there."

"We tracked her for a while." Penny told her. You could hear anger being buried underneath.

"We have to make this an organized effort." Rick announced. "Daryl knows the woods better than anybody."

"Is that blood?" Carol asked, looking at Daryl.

"We took down a walker." Penny told her as if it was obvious.

"A walker? Oh my God." Carol panicked.

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia, okay?" Penny said, wanting her to shut up.

"How can you know that?" Andrea asked.

That was the first time Andrea spoke to Penny since the C.D.C.

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure." Daryl answered.

Carol sat down, taking it all in. She looked at Rick.

"How could you just leave her there to begin with?" Carol snapped at him. "How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us." Rick told her calmly, trying to explain his actions. "I had to draw them off, it was her best chance."

"He didn't have a choice Carol." Penny spat, defending Rick.

"How is she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." Carol started to cry.

"It was my only option. The only choice I could make." Rick pleaded.

"I'm sure nobody doubts that." Shane spoke up.

"My little girl got left in the woods." Carol cried.

Rick had enough and just walked off. Penny became determined to keep looking. She vowed she would find Sophia. Not for Carols sake of course, but for her own. Maybe finding Sophia would make up for losing Maggie. If Sophia isn't already dead.

"Everybody takes a weapon." Rick ordered.

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need." Andrea complained. "What about the guns?"

"We've been over that." Shane told her. "Daryl, Rick, Penny and I are carrying. We can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles.

"It's not the trees I'm worried about." Andrea responded.

"Say someone fires at the wrong moment, a herd happens to be passing by. See, then its game over for all of us. So you need to get over it." Shane told her sternly.

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side." Daryl explained.

Glenn and Penny picked a weapon they thought would suit them, Glenn smiling while he did it.

"Chances are she'll be by the creek." Daryl said. "It's her only land mark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp." Rick warned. "Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

"Everybody assemble your packs." Shane ordered.

Penny always had her backpack with her. She's had that thing since day 1 of the apocalypse.

"Dale, keep on those repairs. We've got to get this R.V. ready to move." Rick told Dale.

"We won't stay a minute longer than we have to." Dale assured Rick. "Good luck out there. Bring Sophia back."

"Keep an eye on T-Dog for me, okay?" Penny smiled at Dale. "Don't want him going anywhere."

"I'll do my best." Dale smiled back.

"Keep an eye on Carl while we're gone." Rick told Dale.

"I'm going with you." Carl told Rick. "You need people right? To cover as much ground as possible." Carl looked at Lori.

"You're call." Lori told Rick. "I can't always be the bad guy."

"Well he has all of you to look after him." Dale said. "I'd say he's in good hands."

"He could stay by me and I could keep my eye on him." Penny suggested.

"Okay. Okay." Rick gave in. "But always within Penny's sight, no exceptions."

Rick and Lori walked off to finish prepping for the search. Penny smiled at Carl and he gave a smile back. Penny looked and saw Andrea coming over. She quickly put her arm around Carl's shoulders and walked away.

"Andrea, I'm begging you. Don't put me in this position." Dale told her.

"I'm not going out there without my gun. I'll even say please." Andrea told him.

"I'm doing this for you." Dale explained.

"No, Dale, you're doing it for you. You need to stop. What do you think's gonna happen? I'm gonna stick it in my mouth and pull the trigger the moment you hand it to me?"

Penny, Rick, and Shane were listening in on the conversation.

"I know you're angry at me. That much is clear." Dale told her. "But if I hadn't done what I did, you'd be dead now."

"Jenner gave us an option, I chose to stay."

"You chose suicide."

"So what's that to you? You barely know me. Maybe I already chose suicide. Maybe I thought Jenner's way was better than the plan I already had."

"Look, I know Amy's death devastated you."

"Keep her out of this." Andrea snapped at him. "This is not about Amy. This is about us. And if I decided that I had nothing left to live for, who the hell are you to tell me otherwise? I made a plan with someone. We promised we would end it together that night you forced my hand like that."

"I saved your life." Dale got weaker.

Everyone else was listening to their argument now.

"No, Dale. I saved yours. You forced that on me. I didn't want your blood on my hands and that is the only reason I left that building. What did you expect? What, I'd have some kind of epiphany? Some life-affirming catharsis?"

"Maybe just a little gratitude."

"Gratitude?" Andrea questioned. "I wanted to die my way. Not torn apart by those drooling freaks. That was my choice. You took that away from me Dale."

"But-"

"But you know better? All I wanted after my sister died was to get out of this endless horrific nightmare we live every day. I wasn't hurting anyone else. That promise was my choice and it was taken away from me. I had another choice. I chose to stay. You took my choice away Dale. And you expect, gratitude?" Andrea let a tear fall down her cheek.

"I don't know what to say." Dale told her.

"I'm not your little girl." Andrea told him. "I'm not your wife, and I am sure as hell not your problem. That's all there is to say."

Andrea walked off while everyone awkwardly followed.

Penny now desperately wanted to talk to her. She now felt extremely guilty for just abandoning her like that back in the C.D.C. She left Andrea alone as if their promise didn't even matter. What kind of friend just abandons another friend when they needed them the most?

She thought about this as everyone (except Dale and T-Dog of course.) walked through the woods.

"Got to keep up." Penny told Carl.

"I am." Carl replied, not seeming too happy.

"You okay?" Penny asked him.

"I think Shane's mad at me. Did I do something wrong?" Carl told her.

"No." Penny answered. "No, I promise you. He's just-he's worried about Sophia that's all."

Penny didn't know what to tell him. Shane never got an attitude with Carl. She wanted to know what his deal was.

"She could be in there." Shane said. Penny looked over and saw everyone looking at a tent.

"There could be a whole bunch of things in there." Penny said quietly.

Daryl carefully approached the tent. He put down his crossbow and took out his knife, ready to strike.

"Carol." Rick whispered and gestured for her to come over. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie. Are you in there? Sophia its mommy. Sophia, we're all here baby, its mommy."

There was no answer. Penny grabbed Glenn's hand, not knowing what could be in there. Rick came closer as Daryl slowly unzipped the tent. Penny clutched Glenn's hand tighter as he did so. Daryl opened the tent. Rick and Daryl had to look away and cough. Daryl entered the tent, making everyone wait.

"Daryl?" Carol called out to him, noticing he was taking a while. "Daryl?"

Daryl came out of the tent with nothing.

"What's in there" Andrea asked.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" Daryl looked and saw Glenn and Penny holding hands. Penny noticed and released Glenn and continued walking with Carl at her side.

They heard church bells ringing in the distance which made everyone freeze. Everyone sprinted off, trying to find the source.

"What direction?" Shane questioned.

"I think that way, I'm pretty sure." Rick pointed forward.

"Damn it's hard to tell out here." Shane said.

"If we hear them, maybe Sophia does too." Carol said.

"Someone's ringing those bells, maybe calling others." Glenn said.

"Or signaling that they found her." Andrea offered.

"She could be ringing them herself." Penny spoke, grabbing Carl's hand.

"Come on." Rick ordered.

Everyone sprinted to find the bells that could hopefully lead to Sophia.

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells." Shane said when they spotted the church. "Rick."

Rick sprinted towards the church, forcing everyone to follow. Daryl and Rick went up the stairs and up to the doors. Rick pushed the doors open. They saw three walkers sitting there as if they were supposed to.

Penny stepped forward, wanting to take one out. Lori handed her a weapon while Glenn handed Daryl one. Penny walked up to one of the walkers, who stood, ready to attack her. She stabbed its head multiple times. Shane walked up to another walker and did the same thing. Daryl up to the last walker and stabbed its head.

"Sophia." Rick screamed once they were done.

"Yo, J.C., you taking requests?" Daryl said to the statue of Jesus.

"I'm telling you, it's the wrong church. It's got not steeple, Rick." Shane insisted. "There's no steeple."

The bells suddenly began ringing again. The sound was just outside.

Everyone ran out to see a big microphone. Glenn opened the box and shut it off.

"A timer. It's on a timer." Daryl said.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." Carol said, walking back into the church.

Everyone followed, except for Shane, Andrea and Lori.

"Father forgive me." Carol said as Lori walked in. "I don't deserve your mercy. I prayed for safe passage from Atlanta and you provided. I prayed for Ed to be punished for laying his hands on me, and for looking at his own daughter. With whatever sickness was growing in his soul. I prayed you'd put a stop to it."

_Why didn't you just do that yourself? It's called leaving, stupid, _Penny thought. As much as she wanted to feel sympathy, she just couldn't. Carol did nothing to get out of her situation, and didn't even think about at least getting Sophia out. She prayed? Penny felt sorry for Sophia, she didn't choose that life, but she could never bring herself to feel sorry for Carol. Penny had another motto. You can't feel sorry for someone's problems if they just complain and do nothing to stop it.

"Give me a chance to raise her right, help her not make my mistakes." Carol continued. "She's so fearful. She's so young in her way. She hasn't had a chance. Praying for Ed's death was a sin."

Penny wanted to smack her so hard. Does she not have common sense?

"Please, don't let this be my punishment. Let her be safe. Alive and safe. Please, Lord. Punish me however you want, but show mercy on her."

Penny walked out, not able to take anymore. Penny was determined to find Sophia, dead or alive. Her odds were nothing out here. She knew Sophia probably didn't make it through the night. But there was always that slim chance that she could be okay somewhere.

"Y'all gonna follow the creek bed back, okay? Daryl, you're in charge." Shane told everyone. "Me and Rick, we're just gonna hang back, search this area another hour or so just to be thorough."

"You're splitting us up. You sure?" Daryl questioned.

"Yeah, we'll catch up with you." Shane answered.

"I want to stay too." Carl spoke up. "I'm her friend."

"Just be careful, okay?" Lori told him.

"I will." Carl assured her.

"See you later bud." Penny told him.

"See ya." Carl smiled.

"When did you start growing up?" Lori hugged Carl as well, squishing him.

The two let go of Carl and Lori kissed Rick goodbye.

"I'll be along soon enough." Rick assured her.

"Here, take this. You remember how to use it?" Rick handed her his gun.

"I'm not taking your gun and leaving you unarmed." Lori told him.

"Here, I got a spare. Take it." Daryl handed Lori a gun.

"Where'd you get that?" Penny questioned.

"That guy that we found in the tent." He answered. Lori took the gun.

Andrea didn't look happy. Penny knew what she was thinking. _"Oh, she gets to have a gun but I don't? Unfair." _

Daryl, Penny, Glenn, Andrea, Carol, and Lori walked back into the woods while Rick, Shane, and Carl stayed.

As they walked through the woods, no one talked. It remained silent.

"So this is it?" Carol spoke, breaking the silence. "This is the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups." Daryl replied. Everyone stopped to take a break.

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." Andrea said. She shot a look at Lori. "I see you have a gun."

"Why, you want it?" Lori said to her. "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me."

Lori handed her the gun. Andrea took it.

"All of you." Lori said. She looked at Carol. "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran, he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know if any of us would have gone after her the way he did, or make the hard decisions that he had to make, or that anybody could've done it _any_ differently.

"Anybody? Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

Andrea handed the gun back to her.

"We should keep moving." Andrea said softly.

Everyone continued walking.

"Andrea." Penny said, finally talking to her.

"What?" She asked, not looking at her.

"Here" Penny quietly handed Andrea a gun. It was Penny's .38. "This gun has seen nothing but hard times. I think you should take it."

Penny smiled. Andrea took the gun.

"Thanks." Andrea said, looking at her with forgiving eyes. Penny did the same.

Then Penny heard something in the distance. A gunshot. A single gunshot is all it took to make Penny's heart stop beating and make the paranoia rise. It was close by. But it was only one shot.

Penny knew they weren't alone in the woods.


	10. Bloodletting

Season 2-Episode 2: Bloodletting

_"So sweetheart, you plannin' on telling me why you were in the woods all by yourself?" Merle asked Penny while they looked for a safe spot._

_ "It's none of your business." Penny snapped as she stepped over a branch._

_ "Hey, listen honey, if you're gonna continue talkin' like that I'm gonna end up smacking ya." Merle said like he was just joking._

_ "Yeah right." Penny scoffed at him._

_ "You ain't very nice are ya?" Merle smirked._

_ "No not really." Penny didn't want to make conversation, she just wanted silence, and he was not helping._

_ "Come here." Merle said, grabbing her shoulders so she could face him. He looked into her brown eyes._

_ "You need to rest those pretty eyes of yours darlin'." He said letting go of her._

_ Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, paranoid, and had dark circles underneath._

_ "What concern is it to you?" Penny rolled her eyes at him._

_ "Well as of right now, you're my responsibility so I gotta make sure you're in good shape."_

_ "Oh come on. I'm just a stupid little girl that was running through the woods. How am I your responsibility?"_

_ "I'm savin' your life."_

_ "You should've just let me die."_

_ "You're just a little bitch aren't ya?" Merle laughed._

_ The two saw a walker wander out of the trees. Penny, feeling scared, took out her knife._

_ "Now, now, ease up honey. Merle's got this." Merle smirked._

_ Merle took the knife from her hand and killed the walker himself. Penny relaxed and she couldn't help but feel a rush when he killed it._

_ "Here darlin'." Merle handed the knife back to her. She took it._

_ Merle noticed her eyes drooping and her head tilting._

_ "You okay honey?" He asked, actually getting worried._

_ "I'm fine." Penny said trying to act like she was okay. She felt dizzy again, and nauseous. Merle stepped closer, knowing something was wrong._

_ Unable to stand, she put her hand on Merle's shoulder to support herself. She felt like she was going to puke again._

_ She turned around quickly and her knees buckled. On her hands and knees, she threw up again, but mo_re _violently than the first time. Merle knelt next to her and rubbed her back to sooth her, to Penny's surprise. _

_Penny breathed heavily, feeling like she had no more energy. _

_ "Okay, come on darlin'. Let ol' Merle take care of ya." Merle made her stand. _

_ He put his arms under her, lifting her up so he could carry her._

_ "Are you sure you weren't bit honey?" Merle asked as he carried her._

_ "I wasn't bit." Penny told him._

_ "Scratched?" _

_ "No." Penny began breathing heavily again._

_ "You swallow blood?"_

_ Penny's heart stopped right there. Her eyes went wide. She had swallowed walker blood, but it wasn't much. It wasn't enough to harm her, was it?_

_ "Hey, I asked you if you swallowed blood. Don't you go ignoring me." Merle told her sternly._

_ "No, I didn't." Penny said nervously._

_ "You can quit bullshittin' me, I know you're lying."_

_ "I'm not. I'm fine." Penny got angry at her own lie._

_ Merle put her down, sitting her up against a tree._

_ "You're gonna stay here. I'll be right back." Merle told her._

_ "You're leaving me alone?" Penny asked, feeling weaker. Her bones felt like glass, and she could feel the heat radiating from her skin. Merle felt her forehead._

_ "Got a nasty fever. Hold tight honeybunch, I'll be right back."_

_ Merle walked off, leaving Penny alone. As soon as he left, Penny began spitting up blood. She took out a rag that she had in her pocket and wiped her mouth._

_ Penny put two fingers to her neck, feeling her pulse. Her breathing turned to quick panting. Her pulse was racing. She suddenly felt a stabbing pain in her head. The pain turned into a massive migraine, and she could feel her temples throbbing. Penny stood and ran off, her bones hurting as she did so. She felt light headed and dizzy._

_ "Penny?" Merle called out for her, realizing she wasn't where he left her. "Penny!"_

_ Penny, further off, clutched her head as she screamed in pain. She fell to her knees, her head in her hands. She screamed at the top of her lungs, making Merle hear. Merle ran to find her location, hoping to save her once more._

_ Penny fell onto her back as she spit up more blood. Her breathing quickened to gasping breaths. She shook her head side to side, trying to make the crawling pain go away. She froze and took one last gasping breath as she closed her eyes and died._

_ "Penny! Penny!" Merle shouted as he ran through the woods. When her screaming stopped, he was even more worried. "Penny!"_

_ Penny's breathing started again. Slow and raspy. Her eyes slowly opened. Her eyes were no longer amber brown. They were the bright silver grey eyes of a walker._

_ Penny was a walker._

Penny turned and stopped, not able to get that gunshot out of her head. She knew something was wrong, she knew it.

"You still worrying about it?" Andrea asked her, making everyone stop.

"It was a gunshot." Penny replied, not able to kill her paranoia.

"We all heard it." Daryl told her.

"Why one?" Penny turned to face him. "Why just one gunshot?"

"Maybe they took down a walker." Daryl suggested.

"Please don't patronize me. Don't talk to me like I'm stupid. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They do it quietly."

Penny snapped at him.

"Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" Carol questioned.

"There's nothing we can do about it anyways. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes." Daryl said.

"So what do we do?" Lori asked.

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway." Daryl told her.

"I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the R.V." Andrea assured.

Penny nodded, still unsure of it all. She walked up and stood next to Glenn.

"I'm sorry for what you're going through." Andrea told Carol. "I know how you feel."

"I suppose you do." Carol replied. "Thank you. The thought of her out here by herself. It's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy."

Andrea was taken aback by that statement.

"Oh God." Carol panicked. "That's the worst thing I ever said."

Andrea shook her head, washing it off.

"We're all hoping and praying with you, for what it's worth." Andrea assured.

_It's useless and stupid. What's that gonna do? Nothing! My God, _Penny thought_._

"I'll tell you what it's worth, not a damn thing." Daryl took the words right out of Penny's mouth." It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. Cause we're gonna locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine. Am I the only one Zen around here? Good lord."

Daryl turned and continued walking. Penny couldn't help but smirk.

The group continued walking through the woods. And Penny still couldn't get that gunshot out of her head.

"We'll lose the light before too long." Daryl announced. "I think we should call it."

"Let's head back." Penny said. "Pick it up again tomorrow?"

"Yeah, we'll find her tomorrow." Lori assured.

Daryl whistled for everyone to follow him.

"Found some more batteries, a bottle of very trendy pink water, an excellent new machete, and I thought Glenn would like this guitar." Dale said, walking up to T-Dog at the R.V. "Maybe he plays."

T-Dog didn't say anything.

"No drugs. You?" Dale asked him.

"Yeah, ibuprofen and these." T-Dog answered, showing his lit cigarette. "What are we doing?"

"Pulling supplies together." Dale answered.

"No, I mean, what are we _doing? _People off in the woods, they're looking for that poor girl and we're here. Why?"

Dale didn't respond. He felt confused to why T-Dog was acting up all of a sudden.

"Cause they think we're the weakest." T-Dog answered his own question. "What are you, seventy?"

"Sixty-four." Dale corrected.

"And I'm the one black guy." T-Dog said. "Realize how precarious that makes my situation?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dale asked, confused.

"I'm talking about two good-old-boy cowboy sheriffs, a redneck, and a white girl whose boyfriend cut off his own hand because I dropped a key. Who in that scenario you think is gonna be first to get lynched?"

"You can't be serious." Dale said. "Am I-hey, am I missing something? Those cowboys have done all right by us. And if I'm not mistaken, that redneck went out of his way to save your ass-more than once. And also, "that girl", has been making you feel guilty, and you are letting it get to you, but she's not a racist. And-and, she was never in a romantic relationship with Merle. Why doesn't anyone seem to get that?"

"You have to be stupid if you actually believe those two weren't together. She followed him around like a baby duck." T-Dog said sarcastically. "And don't forget about Andrea. Kills her own sister."

"She was already dead." Dale said, not enjoying the memory.

"Then wants to blow herself up. Yeah, she's all there."

"She's having a tough time, what is wrong with you?" Dale insisted.

"The whole world is having a tough time." T-Dog raised his voice. "Damn, man. Open your eyes. Look where we are! Stuck in this mess here!"

Dale shushed him, begging him to keep his voice down.

"Let's-let's just go." T-Dog said after clutching his head. "Let's just take the R.V."

"You've gone off the deep end." Dale said, worried.

"I mean it, man. Why are we on the side of this road like live bait? Let's go, you and me. Let's go before they get back." Dale stood and put his hand on T-Dog's head.

"Oh my God. You're burning up." Dale insisted. Dale took the ibuprofen pills. "Here, take these. We've got to knock that fever down."

Dale looked at the trees.

"Where the hell are they?" Dale asked himself.

"How much farther?" Carol asked Daryl.

"Not much. Maybe a hundred yards." Daryl answered. "As the crow flies."

"Too bad we're not crows." Carol commented.

"You think we'll find her?" Glenn asked Penny.

"I hope so." Penny replied.

Penny suddenly heard a screech that sounded like Andrea.

"Andrea!" Penny panicked.

She immediately sprinted to find her friend who had wandered off. The rest of the group followed. Penny saw the walker over Andrea as she tried kicking it away. Suddenly, a girl on a horse rode in and hit the walker with a bat.

"Lori? Lori Grimes?" The girl asked.

The girl was young and beautiful, and had short brown hair, about the same length as Penny's, only Penny's hair was black not brown.

"I'm Lori." Lori said as she stopped running.

"Rick sent me. You've got to come now." The girl said to Lori.

"What?" Lori asked confused.

"There's been an accident. Carl's been shot." The girl told her. "He's still alive, but you've got to come now. Rick needs you. Just come."

Lori took off her backpack and handed it to Penny.

"Whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse." Daryl insisted as Lori got on the horse with the girl.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" The girl asked.

"Yeah." Penny nodded.

"Back track to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. Name's Greene." The girl rode the horse away with Lori with her.

The walker sat up, moaning, and Daryl aimed his crossbow.

"Shut up." He snapped as he shot it and walked away. Penny helped Andrea stand and the group came out of the trees.

"Dale! We need to go, Carl's been shot." Penny told Dale.

"Shot? What do you mean shot?" Dale insisted.

"I don't know, Dale. I wasn't there." Penny told him.

"All we know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori." Glenn told Dale.

"You let her?" Dale looked at Daryl.

"Climb out of my asshole, man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's." Daryl snapped, putting his crossbow down.

"I heard screams, was that you?" Dale looked at Andrea who headed straight for the R.V. so she could clean herself up.

"She got attacked by a walker." Penny answered him. "It was a close call."

"Andrea, are you all right?" Dale asked Andrea, worried.

Andrea looked at him then went into the R.V. and slammed the door.

A few silent minutes passed, and Andrea came out of the R.V. so the group could talk about their next move.

"We've got to go. Carl's been shot, we have to be there." Penny said.

"I won't do it. We can't just leave." Carol said.

"Carol, the group is split." Penny said, trying to control her anger. "We're scattered and weak."

"What if she comes back and we're not here?" Carol insisted. "It could happen."

"If Sophia found her way back and we were gone, that would be awful." Andrea pointed out.

"Okay." Daryl said. "We got to plan for this. I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes. Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the R.V."

"If the R.V. is staying, I am too." Dale said.

"Thank you. Thank you both." Carol said.

"I'm in." Andrea said.

"Guess I am too." Penny gave in.

"Well, if you're all staying then I'm-" Glenn started, but Dale interrupted him.

"Not you Glenn. You're going." Dale told him. "Take Carol's Cherokee."

"Me? Why is it always me?" Glenn whined.

"You have to find this farm, reconnect with our people and see what's going on. But most important, you have to get T-Dog there. It's not an option." Dale insisted. Penny looked at T-Dog who sat far off. "That cut has gone from bad to worse. He has a _very serious_ blood infection."

Daryl seemed like he got an idea, and turned around to the motorcycle.

"Get him to that farm. See if they have any antibiotics. Because if not, T-Dog will die, no joke." Dale continued.

Daryl took a rag off of the motorcycle and took out a bag filled with pills and drugs.

"Keep your oily rags off my brother's motorcycle." Daryl threw the rag at Dale. "Why'd you wait till now to say anything? Got my brother's stash."

Daryl dug through the bag. Penny could see a mountain of crystal meth in it.

_Of course_, Penny thought.

"Crystal, X. Don't need that. Got some kick ass pain killers." Daryl tossed the bottle to Glenn. "Doxycycline. Not the generic stuff neither. It's first class."

Daryl tossed the bottle to Dale.

"I've never seen so many pills prescribed to one person." Penny commented.

"Merle got the clap on occasion." Daryl said as he walked off.

Penny felt so disgusted.

_I can't believe I almost, you know what? Never mind. I don't even want to think about it._ Penny thought, disgusted.

Penny walked over to T-Dog.

"Hey, T-Dog." Penny spoke up.

"Hey." T-Dog said not looking at her. "How's the search going?"

"We didn't find her. That pretty much says it all don't you think?" Penny replied.

"I know I've already said this before, but I'm sorry about dropping the key."

"Scoot over." Penny said. T-Dog moved over so she could sit next to him. "Why are you bringing that up?"

"I said some things to Dale. My fever was making me crazy. I said you wanted me dead because of what I did." T-Dog looked at her.

"Hey, I never said I wanted you dead, did I?" Penny got confused. "I was mad, and I'm still holding a grudge over it, but I don't hate you. I thought we already cleared the air on this."

"I didn't wanna uncuff him. I hated him. The only reason I turned around and ran back was because I didn't want his blood on my hands; or yours. I knew if I left you wouldn't leave his side. I knew he meant a lot to you." T-Dog tilted his head and stared at the ground.

"I hated what happened. I hated that you dropped the key. I wanted to blame you for what happened, but I know you didn't do it on purpose. But I wanted you to feel guilty anyway. I'm sorry for doing that to you." Penny patted his shoulder.

"Nothing will change what I did. And the part that worries me most is that he could still be out there, angry and wanting to lynch my ass." T-Dog picked up his head.

Penny has been convincing herself that he was dead. As much as it broke her heart, she didn't want him to be out there, suffering.

"You didn't make him cut off his hand. He did that to himself. If he wants revenge for that, then he's an idiot. If he didn't do that, we would've found him on that rooftop. We would've cut those handcuffs off. And he would be here right now, helping us look for Sophia. That's on him, not you." Penny gave T-Dog one more pat on his shoulder, than stood up to walk away.

Since she's been sleeping, she felt like she was able to think a lot clearer. It felt good to have a normal mind again.

"Glenn is gonna drive you to this farm. They'll be able to help that cut on your arm." Penny turned and walked off.

"I'm guessing what I said about my brother turned you off a bit, huh?" Daryl smirked at Penny, making her stop.

"Yeah, a bit." Penny turned and looked at him.

"I'm pretty sure he was still on those pills when he met you. You should think about takin' them." Daryl remarked. She did not like that.

"Excuse me?" Penny stepped closer to him, getting angry.

"You heard me. I don't think you'd wanna spread that crap to Glenn." Daryl wanted to get her mad. He enjoyed it. He also wanted to get an answer out of her.

"Okay, for the last time. Glenn is my best friend. Second, I never did anything with your brother because we were never together." Penny tried to keep her voice down, but she still spoke with an attitude.

That was the answer Daryl was looking for. She and Merle never did anything.

"Fine, whatever. I don't even care." Daryl backed off. He didn't need to continue.

"You don't think I'm a, whore, do you?" Penny asked nervously. "Because I'm not."

"Skanks are the only girls he ever bothered talkin' to." Daryl said, wanting to drop the conversation.

"So you're calling me a skank." Penny got angry again.

"Shut up. I ain't calling you a skank. I just thought you were my brother's skank."

Penny smacked him right across his face. Penny wanted to punch him to hell. Only if there wasn't any witnesses.

"I wasn't, so drop it. And if you talk about me like that again, you best pray that I'm dead." Penny pointed her finger at him then walked off to Glenn who was getting T-Dog into the car.

"Hey, is Daryl being an asshole again?" Glenn asked her. She supposed he heard everything and saw her smack him.

"When is he not being an asshole?" Penny chuckled. Glenn chuckled with her.

"If you wanna come with us, you can. I know you wanna be there for Carl." Glenn offered.

"I'll be there tomorrow, don't worry. Just get T-Dog there. He needs to be at that farm more than I do." Penny smiled at him.

Penny pulled Glenn into a hug as the sun started to set.

"Be safe." Penny whispered to him.

"You be safe too." Glenn whispered back.

Glenn got into the car and drove off, back up the highway to find the farm.

"I'll keep watch for the night. Anyone needs anything just holler." Dale grabbed the rifle and went to the top of the R.V.

They saw the night getting closer. Tomorrow, they will head over to the farm. The problem, was that they didn't know what they were getting themselves into.


	11. Save the Last One

Season 2-Episode 3: Save the Last One

_Merle left her for only a short amount of time. He needed his space for a moment so he could think. He had to figure out what he was going to do with her. Should he put her down now? Or should he wait until she turns? Another option was to just walk back to camp without her and just leave her there, sitting against the tree. He quickly moved that idea out of his head. As big of an ass he was, he knew he wouldn't be able to live with that. That was a reason he saved Penny in the first place. It didn't matter how long he's known her. He knew she was special in some way, and he knew she was strong. He couldn't give up on her just yet._

_ Turning, he walked back to where he had left her, but she wasn't there._

_ "Penny?" Merle questioned. Where did she go? "Penny!"_

_ There was no answer. As he gazed down, he saw a rag soaked in human blood. He picked it up, knowing it belonged to Penny._

_ Suddenly, a distant, high-pitched, and pain filled scream rang in Merle's ears. Merle ran to find her location, hoping to save her once more._

_ "Penny! Penny!" Merle shouted as he ran through the woods. When her screaming stopped, he was even more worried. "Penny!"_

_ Merle stopped and raised his pistol, raising his guard as he heard a branch break. He knew someone or something was close by. He prayed it was Penny._

_ As he gazed ahead, he saw her walking with her back facing him._

_ "Penny?" Merle hesitated. _

_ Penny stopped walking, hearing his voice call her. Merle lowered his gun and carefully walked closer to her. He put his hands on her shoulders._

_ "Penny? You all right?" He said, anxious. He turned her to face him. He looked into her now silver-grey eyes and immediately knew what she was. "Penny. Penny, you remember me, right?"_

_ Merle didn't want to believe it. She stared at him for a moment, then attempted to lunge. She grunted and he struggled to keep her back. Her breathing was heavy and raspy. Merle pushed her back so he could back up away from her. He lifted his gun, not wanting to pull the trigger. As he looked at her, he knew something was out of the ordinary. She stood, but did not continue attacking. She stared into his eyes as if she were pleading for help. Her mouth was open and her breathing was heavy. It looked as if she wanted to speak, but Merle knew that was impossible._

_ "Help… Me." A raspy voice escaped Penny's lips. Merle's gun fell from his hands as he stared in shock. This couldn't be happening. "Please… It hurts."_

_ Afraid she could still attack, he picked up his gun and aimed it at her just to be cautious. _

_ "Come on. Come on honey." Merle walked towards the camp, gesturing for her to follow him. "Come on, come on honey."_

_ Penny walked towards him and he backed away so she could continue following him._

_ "I swore to myself I'd protect you no matter what, and I ain't gonna stop now." Merle thought out loud. "Come on darlin'."_

_ The walk back to the camp took about an hour and a half. Merle knew she was special and he knew she was still there. He wasn't quitting. He wasn't the type that gave up easily._

_ Merle and Penny walked out of the woods and up to the camp._

_ "Shane! Andrea!" Amy yelled in terror as she gazed at what was behind Merle. Merle, and Penny as a walker._

_ "Merle!" Shane yelled running over with Andrea at his side._

_ Dale climbed down the ladder on the R.V. and jogged over, holding his rifle._

_ "Oh God. Carl get back." Lori said worried. She made her son hide behind her._

_ "Merle, what the hell are you doing?" Andrea yelled, aiming her gun._

_ "Dixon you have three seconds before I blow your head off. Do you hear me!" Shane aimed his pistol at Merle._

_ "Hey hey hey!" Merle raised his hands in defense. "Don't you worry, she's fine. She's just fine. No harm will come to any of ya."_

_ "Dixon this isn't a joke. You're putting everyone here at risk. Put her down." Andrea lowered her gun, trying to reason with him._

_ "Merle, what were you thinking? You can't just bring in walkers like this. Andrea is right. You need to put her down." Dale explained._

_ "No. I ain't doin' that." Merle said seriously. _

_ "Put her down or I will." Shane cocked his gun, ready to do what he felt was necessary._

_ "You'll have to kill me first." Merle blocked Penny from Shane's view._

_ "Merle, I've got a family to protect." Shane lowered his gun, trying to reason. "I've got Lori, I've got Carl. Carol has Sophia. Morales has his own family. This just ain't safe man."_

_ "Help." A quiet and raspy voice was heard. Everyone looked at the walker, knowing it was impossible. "Not… Dead… Not."_

_ Everyone stared in shock. Penny looked at everyone then seemed to be getting woozy. Penny collapsed on the ground completely unconscious. Merle turned and picked her up. He knew this was the real Penny. By the looks of it, she was most likely in a coma. Merle carried her to his tent. He laid her on Daryl's bed. _

_ "Nobody's gonna come near ya. I promise." Merle said to her._

_ He turned and sat on his bed, across from her, and watched her._

_ He wasn't giving up yet._

Penny actually tried sleeping. It didn't work out. New worries crept into her head. What if the farm isn't safe? What if Carl doesn't make it? What if they never find Sophia? Those questions just wouldn't leave her mind.

Penny grabbed her bag and left the R.V. As she loaded her gun, Daryl also left the R.V. with his crossbow over his shoulder.

"Where are you going?" Penny asked him, still angry with him.

"Going to look for the girl." Daryl answered her.

"No, because that's what I'm doing." Penny snapped as she finished loading. She grabbed her flashlight and strutted past him.

"I guess we'll have to look together then." Daryl commented. He looked up at Dale who was on watch. "I'm going for a walk. Shine some light in the forest. If she's out there, give her something to look at."

"You think that's a good idea right now?" Dale asked him.

"Dale." Penny interrupted. "It's fine."

Penny led the way into the forest, hoping she didn't have to make any more conversation. She was too angry to talk. She only wanted to know one thing. Why did Daryl care so much about finding Sophia? And why was he so sure they were going to find her?

"You really think we're gonna find Sophia?" Her question slipped out.

"You got that look on your face same as everyone else." Daryl said as he shined his flashlight on her face. "What the hell's wrong with you people? We just started looking."

"Well, do you?"

"It ain't the mountains of Tibet. It's Georgia. She could be holed up in a farmhouse somewhere. People get lost and they survive. It happens all the time."

"She's only twelve." Penny snapped.

_I should've taught Maggie how to defend herself. Why didn't I?_ Penny thought. She hated that she was blaming herself, but she couldn't help it.

"Hell, I was younger than her and I got lost." Daryl responded. "Nine days in the woods eating berries, wiping my ass with poison oak.

"They found you?" She looked at him.

"My old man was off on a bender with some waitress. Merle was doing another stint in juvie."

_Of course_, Penny wanted to laugh.

"Didn't even know I was gone. I made my way back though. Went straight into the kitchen and made myself a sandwich. No worse for wear. Except my ass itched something awful."

Penny chuckled loudly, forgetting her bad mood.

"I'm sorry." Penny laughed. "I'm sorry, that is a terrible story."

Daryl actually laughed with her.

"Only difference is Sophia's got people looking for her. I call that an advantage." Daryl said.

"I guess it is." She replied.

"I'm sorry by the way." Daryl said.

"Sorry for what?" She knew exactly what, but she wanted him to say it.

"For saying what I said. About you and my brother. It wasn't right."

"Thank you." She replied. "Just don't let it happen again."

"It won't."

"Good. Because if it does, you best pray that I'm dead." Penny, this time, meant it more as a joke than a threat. She smiled at him.

Daryl laughed which made her laugh with him. The two continued walking through the woods, finally enjoying each other's company.

The two suddenly heard the trees rustling. Immediately on their guard, they walked towards the sound, wondering if it was a walker, or perhaps Sophia herself.

They saw a small campsite, but no occupants. The tree rustled again. Daryl and Penny turned to see a walker hanging from a tree.

"What the hell?" Daryl commented as he examined the hanging walker. Daryl noticed a note pinned to the tree. "_Got bit. Fever hit. World gone to shit. Might as well quit. _Dumbass didn't have enough to shoot himself in the head. Turned himself into a big swinging piece of bait. And a mess."

Penny got sick to her stomach, but forced herself not to throw up.

"You all right?" Daryl asked her.

"Trying not to puke." She answered, leaning on her knees.

"Go ahead if you gotta." Daryl told her casually.

"No, I'm fine." She answered, obviously not fine. "Can you talk about something else for a minute?"

Daryl wanted to mess with her some more. The last time she almost puked in front of him was when they gutted the walker in these very woods. He might've failed last time with trying to get her to give into her weak stomach, but he's not going to fail this time.

"I guess we're the closest he's been to food since he turned." Daryl said, noticing the walker struggling to get to them. "Look at him, hanging up there like a big piñata."

Daryl shined his flashlight onto the walker's dangling legs.

"The other geeks came and ate all the flesh off his legs." Daryl commented.

Penny couldn't take anymore. She vomited right into her hand. She coughed in agony, hating him for doing that.

"You were supposed to change the subject, asshole." Penny choked.

"Call that payback for laughing about my itchy ass."

"There wasn't a lot that came up." Penny shook her hand to get the vomit off.

"Let's head back."

"Shouldn't you?" Penny gestured to the hanging walker.

"No. He ain't hurting nobody." Daryl said. "Ain't gonna waste an arrow either. He made his choice. Opted out. Let him hang."

Daryl turned to head back, but Penny walked closer to the biter, making it go crazy.

"You want to live now, or not?" Daryl asked her. 'It's just a question."

"What are you talking about?" Penny asked him.

"At the C.D.C. You said you should stay. When you were talkin' to Andrea, I heard you say you, _attempted it_, before. Just wonderin'."

"If I answer you, you'll shoot him. Fair?"

Daryl nodded his head, agreeing. He just wanted to know. He didn't really know why. He guessed that he just cared.

"I don't know if I wanna live. I don't know if I have to, or-sometimes I think it's just a stupid old habit." Penny answered him.

"Not much of an answer." Daryl said as he shot the walker. "Waste of an arrow."

Daryl walked off with Penny behind him. The entire walk back was silent, just what Penny had wanted. Now? She didn't want silence anymore. She wanted to talk to Daryl. Confess her plan that she made with Andrea that night. But for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to say it.

Daryl and Penny made it back to the highway and walked up to the R.V. Andrea was with Dale and Carol went back into the R.V. Daryl followed.

"Penny." Andrea called out. Andrea handed the .38 gun back to Penny. "Thank you, but, I don't need it anymore."

Penny took the gun.

"Okay." Was all Penny could think to say.

Penny went back into the R.V. and saw Carol sleeping, and Daryl getting ready to sleep.

"Hey, Daryl?" Penny asked, lying down.

"What?" He replied quietly.

"We're going to find her. I know it." Penny whispered. "I had a lot of doubts, but, I know we will."

"Yeah." Was all Daryl said.

They both closed their eyes and went to sleep.

_That morning, Penny did not feel refreshed. She did not feel safe. She did not put herself back to the first day of the apocalypse and made it happen differently. No, she was back in this car jumping at every noise. This was her life now._

_ Everyone got out of the car. It was very quiet, no sign of anything._

_ "Penny." Lucy spoke up, breaking the silence. "I'm going huntin', okay?"_

_ "Okay." Penny replied._

_ Lucy was a fifteen-year-old girl with long, dirty-blonde hair and blue eyes. She had a very small, petite body and a pretty baby face. She always had that sweet, happy tone in her southern voice. Lucy could indeed pass for a twelve-year-old._

_ "You mind if I use this?" Lucy asked, picking up the .38 gun. _

_ "Wouldn't you rather use the bow?" Penny asked her._

_ "Oh no. I can't use that, I suck." She answered. "I have a knife. I'm a knife thrower. It's what I do when I hunt. It was quite popular back at home. I just want the gun for protection against those biters. Just in case there's too many of 'em." _

_ "Okay, take it. If I hear a gun shot, I'm coming after you." Penny warned. "Those gunshots attract more of them."_

_ "Okay." Was all Lucy said back. Then she strolled off into the woods._

_ "Be back in an hour!" Penny practically yelled as Lucy went further and further away._

_ "Okay!" She yelled in the distance._

_ Penny didn't know what she should do while Lucy was gone. She didn't want to just sit there and worry until she got back._

_ She decided it was best if she ate something. Penny got out canned food and a bottle of water from her backpack. To savor it, it took her a half hour to finish it all._

_ Afterwards, she changed her clothes. She changed into a black tank top with a black sweater over it, black shorts, and black sneakers. She sat and relaxed. She figured Lucy would wake her up when she returns soon. She didn't even realize she fell asleep._

_ "Penny." A voice said. It wasn't Lucy._

_ "What mom?" Penny asked, waking up._

_ "When did Lucy leave?" Nancy asked her, looking worried. _

_ "Around one, why?" Penny got worried as well. "Isn't she back?"_

_ "It's now almost four. You told her an hour, right?" _

_ "Yeah." Penny responded. "I'll go find her. She probably just got lost." Penny tried keeping her cool, but you could still hear the worry in her voice._

_ The only weapon she could use was her bow and arrows, because Lucy took the gun. After she put the arrows on her back, she heard a nearby gunshot._

_ Oh no, Penny thought._

_ Penny picked up her bow and ran into the woods. She put an arrow into the bow and prepared to shoot._

_ "Lucy!" Penny shouted as she began walking through the woods on guard. _

_Shouting really isn't the best idea. I could attract biters. But if they come for me and leave Lucy alone, it's worth it, Penny thought. _

_ "Lucy." Penny said quieter. She was scared._

_ The gunshot was close. Where was she?_

_ "Penny." She heard a voice whimper. Penny turned to see Lucy fall to the ground. There was a dead biter on the ground, but there was another right behind her. It growled and lunged._

_ Penny immediately shot it with her arrow, killing it. She ran to Lucy. She had bites. One on her arm, and another on her leg. They looked really bad. Penny felt Lucy's forehead. The fever. She had a fever. A really bad fever. _

_ "Penny, please." Lucy whimpered as she cried. "Penny please, shoot me."_

_ "I can't do that." Penny replied, fighting tears. _

_ "Please Penny." She cried. "I don't wanna be like them."_

_ Lucy offered Penny the gun. She slowly took it in her hand._

_ "You're my best friend, Lucy." Penny told her, starting to cry._

_ "You're my best friend, Penny." Lucy replied, also crying._

_ Penny quickly raised the gun, put it to Lucy's head, and shot her. She died right there._

_ Why me? Why? I get close to someone and they die. My guard was down. If only I went with her. Why didn't I? Why did I think she could take care of herself? Why! Penny thought._

_ Penny sat on the forest floor and cried. More like screamed. She just kept screaming at the top of her lungs while she dug her nails into her scalp, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't stop. Not caring what came._

_ Let them come! Why shouldn't they? They're evil! Penny thought._

_ Nighttime came, and she was still in the woods, crying and crying nonstop in darkness. Finally, she wiped the tears off her face and stood. She took the gun and the bow and arrows. She looked over and saw a small rose bush. Penny picked a single red rose, and placed it on Lucy's chest. She walked out of the woods and saw Nancy had lit a fire. Nancy looked up at Penny as Penny stood there staring at her and Maggie. She gave Nancy a look of grief then walked over to the car without saying a word. She opened the passenger door and slammed it shut after she sat down inside. Nancy knew very well to leave her alone._

_ Penny sat there and looked out the window the entire night, not sleeping at all, wanting to mourn._

Penny awoke to find herself in the R.V. Dale, Carol, and Daryl were sleeping, which meant Andrea was on watch. Penny stood and stepped over Daryl, leaving the R.V.

"You need something?" Andrea called out, sitting at the top of the R.V.

"No. Mind if I take watch with you?" Penny replied.

"Seat's all yours." Andrea said.

Penny climbed the ladder and sat next to Andrea.

"Nightmare?" Andrea asked.

"Yeah. In a way. More of a memory." Penny nodded her head.

"What happened?" Andrea turned to face her.

"My best friend, Lucy. She died." Penny ducked her head, not wanting to continue.

"How'd she die?" Andrea asked, hoping she wasn't going too far.

"I-I killed her." Penny said, tearing up. "She was bit, and I-she asked me to do it."

Penny took out the .38 gun.

"She handed me this gun. She asked me to end it for her. And I-I just did it."

Penny began to cry, but she was still fighting so she wouldn't cry harder. She was losing that battle.

"You had to do what was necessary. But I'm sorry you had to go through that. I know how you feel." Andrea tried to comfort her.

"You know what? You do." Penny looked at Andrea with thankful eyes.

Penny had to put down Lucy. Andrea had to put down Amy. Penny was so thankful that someone finally understood her pain. And that someone was a true friend.

Unaware to them, Daryl was awake, listening the entire time. This time, he finally felt real sympathy.

"Oh shit." Shane groaned as he fell to the ground. That fall hurt his ankle so bad, it just gave out.

"Got to get to the street, double back to the truck." Otis said to Shane.

"Look, we ain't gonna make it, okay?" Shane grunted as he heard the walkers getting closer.

"Got to try, man." Otis told him. "Come on, get up."

"You're gonna take these bags, and you're gonna go." Shane went to remove his bag.

"I ain't leaving you behind." Otis told him.

"Okay." Shane said getting up. "How many rounds you got left?"

"Four. You?" Otis replied.

"Five and one in the pipe." Shane answered.

They needed to get this stuff to Carl. If not, he'll die for sure. Shane stood and limped alongside Otis, the man who shot Carl, wanting to make things right.

As they walked, they would turn and shoot. A herd of walkers were right behind them.

"Down to my last." Otis warned.

"Me too." Shane replied. "I'm sorry."

Shane stopped. Otis gave a confused look as to why Shane said, "I'm sorry." Shane shot Otis's knee, making him fall. Shane tried pulling the bag off of Otis, but Otis fought back.

"Will you give it? Give it!" Shane yelled as the walkers got closer and closer.

Shane kicked him several times, making Otis scream. Otis kept trying to fight back.

"I'll kill you." Otis gripped Shane's hair.

"Let go of me! Let go!" Shane yelled after hitting him repeatedly. Shane pulled away, making Otis rip a chunk of hair out of Shane's head.

Shane grabbed both bags and limped as Otis was torn apart by walkers.

Shane got back to the car. He jumped in, put the bags on the side seat, and drove off, trying to bury his guilt.

The whole drive back to the farm, he thought, _I did what was necessary. I did what was necessary._

The question was, did he _really _do what was necessary?


End file.
